USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark spoke at the annual 7/20 Falun Gong rally on Capitol Hill, July 20, 2017. Click here to read his remarks.
USCIRF released a new report on July 17, 2017 titled Women and Religious Freedom: Synergies and Opportunities. While a common misperception persists that women’s rights to equality and freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) are clashing rights, the two are actually indivisible and interrelated, the new report finds.
USCIRF Executive Director Erin Singshinsuk spoke at the 69th annual Jalsa Salana Ahmadiyya Muslim conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on July 15, 2017. Photo courtesty of Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA .
USCIRF Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee testified on July 12, 2017 before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission on "Tibet: Religious Freedom." Click here to read his testimony. Click here to watch the hearing. Pictured: Commissioner Dorjee holds up a photo of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima – The Panchen Lama. Commissioner Dorjee is advocating on behalf of the Panchen Lama as part of USCIRF's Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project.
USCIRF Vice Chair Sandra Jolley and Commissioners Tenzin Dorjee and Jackie Wolcott meet with Arjia Rinpoche to discuss religious freedom for Tibetan Buddhists in China, July 11, 2017.
USCIRF released a new report on June 1, 2017 titled : Wilting in the Kurdish Sun: The Hopes and Fears of Religious Minorities in Northern Iraq. Click here to read the report.
On July 6, USCIRF Vice Chair Kristina Arriaga (right) and Commissioner Jackie Wolcott (left) met with His Holiness the 17th Karmapa of Tibet (center) to discuss religious freedom for Tibetan Buddhists in China.
On June 30, USCIRF Vice Chair Kristina Arriaga (3rd from left) and Commissioner Jackie Wolcott (back row to the right of the flag) met with a Vietnamese Delegation from Boat People SOS to discuss religious freedom and the treatment of religious minorities in Vietnam.
Vice Chair Kristina Arriaga and Commissioner Jackie Wolcott meet with Mr. Md. Shahidul Haque, Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh, to discuss areas of mutual interests, June 22, 2017
USCIRF sent the following letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging him to maintain sanctions on Sudan for religious freedom violations. Since South Sudan's secession in 2011, USCIRF has documented a deterioration of religious freedom conditions in Sudan year after year. During this period, the Sudanese government has arrested nearly 200 Christians, including 14 religious leaders.
USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark speaking at the 2017 Annual 7/20 Falun Gong rally on Capitol Hill.
USCIRF Commissioners with UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Ahmed Shaheed (bottom, second from left), April 2017.
Commissioner Thomas J. Reese, S.J. speaks in support of Eritrean Patriarch Abune Antonios
USCIRF Commissioner Jackie Wolcott: “As long as [Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh] remains in prison and as long as authorities unfairly treat his family, I will publicly and privately raise their case so that one day soon they may be reunited in safety and be able to practice their faith freely.”
Click here for information on Pastor Nguyen Cong Chinh and Tran Thi Hong and religious freedom conditions in Vietnam.
Click here to watch the launch of the Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project.
USCIRF Religious Prisoners of Conscience
Click on the prisoner names to view more information on their cases.
Click here for USCIRF's Prisoner of Conscience List which is mandated by Public Law 114-281, the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2017 Annual Report on April 25, 2017.
In the report, USCIRF recommends that the State Department continue to designate the following ten countries as “countries of particular concern,” defined under law as countries where particularly severe violations of religious freedom are tolerated or perpetrated: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
USCIRF also finds that six other countries meet the CPC standard and should be so designated: Central African Republic, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam.
USCIRF on June 1, 2017 released a report titled Wilting in the Kurdish Sun: The Hopes and Fears of Religious Minorities in Iraq. This groundbreaking report is the first independent report of its kind to involve in-person interviews with representatives of almost all the religious minority groups in the KRI.
The report notes that "the KRI remains far more welcoming and tolerant to minorities that its regional neighbors" and expresses hope that special effort will be taken to "preserve [the] freedoms and rights" of minorities.
"Dear Pastor Chinh and Mrs. Hong: I write to you as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and a person of faith who is deeply concerned about your well-being."
USCIRF calls for the release of those accused of or convicted of blasphemy stating that blasphemy "laws are used to intimidate and harass individuals, including religious dissenters and minorities and violate their freedom of religion and belief.”
"What will Iran’s May 19 presidential election mean for the Baha’i, the country’s largest non-Muslim religious group? Given that every candidate was handpicked by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei’s Guardian Council, the answer is simple: Nothing good."
CUBA: USCIRF Condemns the Expulsion of Félix Yuniel Llerena López from the University of Cuba. “I call on the Cuban government to immediately cease its harassment of Félix Llerena and his fellow religious freedom advocates,” stated USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J.
USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J. held a telephonic press briefing on the release of the 2017 Annual Report for members of the media.
USCIRF Releases 2017 Annual Report
USCIRF Recommends Russia be Designated a Country of Particular Concern
RUSSIA: Supreme Court Outlaws the Jehovah’s Witnesses
USCIRF Condemns Russian Supreme Court Decision Banning the Jehovah’s Witnesses
Who We Are
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world, that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad.
What We're About
Inherent in religious freedom is the right to think as we please, believe or not believe as our conscience leads, and live out our beliefs openly, peacefully, and without fear.
We are about freedom…
Thomas Bill Search