For Your Information

September 27, 2012| by Katrina Lantos Swett and M. Zuhdi Jasser 

The following appeared in The Washington Times on September 27, 2012 at http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/27/no-human-rights-without-religious-freedom/.

Member states of the United Nations should ponder an alarming statistic: According to a just-released Pew Research Center study, 75 percent of people live in countries where a bedrock human right is endangered. Not all people enjoy the right to think as they please, believe or not believe as their conscience leads and live out their convictions openly and peacefully.

As members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, we can attest that a number of United Nations member countries often perpetrate or tolerate atrocious violations — including torture and murder — against the rights of their people to freedom of religion or belief.

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September 7, 2012| By: Katrina Lantos Swett

The following opinion appeared in Roll Call on September 6, 2012.

An unmarried Baha'i woman spent three years in Iran's notorious Evin Prison charged with being a spy for Israel and the United States. She was told: "To destroy you, we have to destroy your community, your meetings and your prayers." She hopes to live "as a free Baha'i in the U.S." and wants to be sure that "no one will look at me as someone who doesn't belong in society."

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September 6, 2012| By: Azizah al-Hibri and Robert P. George

The following appeared in the Indianapolis Star on September 5, 2012 at http://blogs.indystar.com/letters/2012/09/05/our-view-burmese-muslims-face-severe-persecution/.

Editor’s note: Indiana is home to the largest concentration of Burmese refugees in the United States. About 7,000 Burmese live in the state, mostly in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis.

For Muslim Americans and other concerned citizens in Indianapolis and elsewhere in the nation, news of still more violence against the largely Muslim Rohingya of Burma highlights the plight of one of the world’s most persecuted communities and the need for a global response. The latest bloodshed, coupled with two prior months of riots and murders, has left more than 700 dead and 80,000 homeless. This violence has been compounded by the behavior of the Burmese security forces who, according to major human rights organizations, have participated in killings and rapes as well as mass arrests against the Rohingya.

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August 14, 2012| By: Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in The Detroit News on August 14, 2012 at http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120814/OPINION01/208140309/1008/Commentary-Stand-up-religious-minorities-Middle-East :

On July 19, on behalf of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), I spoke on Capitol Hill in Washington about the desperate plight of the Middle East's religious minorities, many of whose members have close friends and relatives in the Detroit metropolitan area.

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August 14, 2012| By Mary Ann Glendon and Sam Gejdenson

The following guest column appeared in The Star-Ledger on August 14, 2012 at http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2012/08/lautenberg_amendment_is_vital.html

September will be here before we know it. While some will be looking forward to autumn, others will be apprehensive as the month approaches. They will wonder whether Congress will reauthorize a key measure that has allowed Jews, Christians, Baha’is and other religious minorities to escape religious persecution in Iran and in former Soviet nations.

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August 1, 2012| by Azizah al-Hibri and M. Zuhdi Jasser

The following op-ed article appeared in the Washington Post on August 1, 2012: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/ramadan-and-religious-freedom/2012/08/01/gJQA9HqBQX_blog.html

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which we serve, extends its warmest wishes to the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, nearly a quarter of its population, at the advent of  Ramadan, the most holy month in the Islamic calendar.

For your information:

July 31, 2012| by Katrina Lantos Swett and Robert P. George

The following op-ed article appeared in The Moscow Times on July 31, 2012: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/russias-failure-to-protect-freedom-of-religion/462957.html 

Has Russia truly changed its ways on human rights? Certainly its new law restricting public protests fuels grave and widespread concerns. Moreover, in at least one key area, religious freedom, Russia has not changed in many respects. This assessment should provoke serious discussion as the United States faces decisions about its relationship with its former Cold War foe.

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July 16, 2012 |  by Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed article appeared in The Hill publication July 16, 2012:

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/238199-us-should-pressure-nations-to-rescind-anti-ahmadiyya-laws

On June 27, along with members of Congress and other guests, I heard a message of peace and freedom from the Ahmadiyya world leader, His Holiness Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, at a Capitol Hill reception co-sponsored by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), of which I am chair, and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

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7/16/2012| By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed, Swett: Egyptian Tolerance Is Democracy Barometer, The Treatment of Coptic Christians and Other Religious Minorities Poses a Cause for Concern, appeared in Roll Call on July 16, 2012. 

Since its inception almost 15 years ago, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, on which I serve, has been deeply concerned about conditions for freedom of religion or belief in Egypt.

Among its concerns is the deteriorating status of Egypt’s religious minority communities, including its population of Coptic Christians.

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July 3, 2012| By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in Roll Call on July 3, 2012, 11:46 a.m..

As we prepare to celebrate our Declaration of Independence, we are reminded of its powerful proclamation of freedom.

Freedom includes many things, but at its core is the right to think as we please, believe or not believe as our conscience dictates and live out our convictions openly and peacefully. In other words, freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief is central to who we are.

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July 3, 2012| by Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in Stars and Stripes on July 3, 2012 at www.stripes.com/honor-july-4-by-upholding-first-freedom-1.182008.

As we celebrate our Declaration of Independence, we are reminded of its powerful proclamation of freedom.

Freedom includes many things but, at its core, it is the right to think as we please, believe or not believe as our conscience dictates, and live out our convictions openly and peacefully. In other words, freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief is central to who we are.