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May 14, 2013 | By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following was published in the Washington Post, On Faith on May 14, 2013. 

Fifteen years ago, on May 14, 1998, U.S. House of Representatives voted in favor of a landmark effort to promote a pivotal human right abroad.  In October of that year, the Senate also acted and President Clinton signed the International Religious Freedom Act, or IRFA, into law.  Among other provisions, IRFA created the Office of International Religious Freedom in the State Department and the independent, bipartisan Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), of which I am chair.

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April 18, 2013 | By Elliott Abrams and Azizah al-Hibri

Xi Jinping needs to hear that religious freedom is the only way to stop self-immolations.

The following op-ed appeared in the Wall Street Journal on April 18, 2013. 

When Kal Kyi, a 30-year-old mother of four, set herself on fire in March to protest Chinese repression of Tibet, she joined a grim and growing fellowship of despair. Over the past four years, 112 Tibetans have immolated themselves in protest against Chinese oppression.

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April 1, 2013 | By USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett 

Even as we prepare to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day, European society's dark past of bigotry haunts our present

The following op-ed appeared in The Guardian on March 31, 2013. 

As fellow Americans prepare to join their Jewish friends and neighbors in solemn commemoration of Yom Ha Shoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, on 8 April, for many, the question that haunts us is this: has Europe fully transcended its past? If the past decade is any indicator, it has not. Despite much soul-searching following America's liberation of that continent, European antisemitism persists.

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March 18, 2013| By: Katrina Lantos Swett and M. Zuhdi Jasser

The following op-ed appeared in Roll Call on March 15, 2013.

While the world remains riveted to Egypt’s challenges and Syria’s travails, much is also at stake in Bahrain, a strategically vital Gulf nation that is home to the Middle East’s largest U.S. naval base.

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March 11, 2013 | By M. Zuhdi Jasser

The following appeared in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs on March 11, 2013. 

From Somalian anarchy to Eritrean and Sudanese tyranny and civil strife, the Horn of Africa has long been a turbulent region. A notable exception has been the nation of Ethiopia.

That might be changing.

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February 14, 2013 | by Katrina Lantos Swett and Catherine Cosman

The following op-ed appeared in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs on Wednesday, February 13, 2013.  

"Russia is now a police state."

We heard those words from civil society activists in late September during our Moscow visit on behalf of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The words captured their view of Russia today, especially given last year’s targeting of fundamental freedoms, largely in response to protests against Vladimir Putin’s return to Russia’s presidency.

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January 22, 2013| by Katrina Lantos Swett and M. Zuhdi Jasser

The following op-ed appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Sunday January 20, 2013.

On Wednesday, the United States observed its annual National Religious Freedom Day. This day commemorates the Virginia General Assembly’s adoption in 1786 of Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and celebrates the enshrining of this right in the U.S. Constitution and our country’s culture.

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January 14, 2013| By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following appeared in the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs on January 14, 2013. 

Former Soviet prisoner and refusenik Natan Sharansky, Burmese human rights activist Aung San Suu Kyi, and Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani are some of the many people across the globe who were unjustly imprisoned for their beliefs.  Fortunately, these three men and women of conscience are now free.  We applaud their lives and the work they have done to advance the cause of freedom and dignity for all.

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12/26/2012| By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following Washington Post On Faith opinion was published  on December 24, 2012. 

In a poem that became one of America’s most beautiful Christmas carols, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, “I heard the bells on Christmas day, their old familiar carols play, and wild and sweet the words repeat, of peace on earth, good will to men.”

This promise of the season remains the most elusive.

Indeed, while America’s Christians look joyfully ahead to celebrating Christ’s birth, their brothers and sisters in too many other countries must approach this season fearing for their safety and freedom. Given the grim recent history, their worries are not unfounded.

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December 20, 2012 | By Katrina Lantos Swett

Under Vladimir Putin, Russia has passed a succession of anti-human rights laws curtailing freedom of expression, association, and assembly. Parliament might even pass a proposed blasphemy law that clearly would violate religious freedom. President Obama must speak out.

The following op-ed appeared in the Christian Science Monitor on December 20, 2012. 

This year has featured grim news of serious human rights restrictions imposed by Moscow on Russian society, including religious groups. At their next discussion, President Obama should convey these concerns to Vladimir Putin, reiterating to Russia’s president the need to adhere to universal human rights and religious freedom standards if relations are to progress between our two countries.

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December 19, 2012 | By: Mary Ann Glendon and Azizah al-Hibri 

The following commentary appeared in The National Interest on December 18, 2012. 

When most people picture Western Europe, they envision well-established democracies where fundamental freedoms are vigorously protected. For the most part, this portrait is accurate. However, when it comes to religious freedom, the past year and decade have witnessed trends that challenge this image.