May 16, 2012 | by M. Zuhdi Jasser and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in The Hill today.  For a link to the original article, go to

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/227753-blasphemy-bans-threaten-arab-spring-religious-freedom.

Kuwait’s parliament has just passed draconian legal amendments that impose the death penalty on Muslims for blasphemy. The move to stiffen the penalty came after Hamad al-Naqi, a Shi’a Muslim, was arrested in March and taken into custody for allegedly cursing the Prophet Muhammad on Twitter.  The fate of the amendments and of Naqi rests in the hands of Kuwait’s emir.

May 15, 2012 | by Leonard A. Leo and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following essay appeared in the Columbia University Journal of International Affairs today.  For a link to the original article, go to http://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/religious-freedom-violations-south-asia .

In March of this year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued its 2012 Annual Report to Congress and the executive branch, revealing the disturbing state of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad.[1] From laws curtailing or abrogating this universal right to acts of violence against religious adherents, the report confirmed how religious freedom is being violated in many areas of the world.[2]

Among these areas is South Asia. In Pakistan, for example, governmental violations of religious freedom, such as blasphemy laws, foster extremism by inciting hatred against dissenting religious groups, encouraging private actors to assault their members. In other countries, abuses against religious freedom have led the abused to reject governmental legitimacy and retaliate against it. Research strongly suggests that the protection of religious freedom is correlated with less conflict and is central to the lessening of violent religious extremism, the maintenance of security, the consolidation of democracy, and the advancement of socioeconomic progress.[3]

March 20, 2012 | by Leonard A. Leo, Felice D. Gaer and Tiffany Lynch 

The following essay appeared in World Affairs Journal today.  For a link to the original essay, go to http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/sudans-continuing-war-religious-freedom .
 
 

In July 2011, South Sudan became an independent country, six years after a peace agreement ended Khartoum’s 20-year war to impose on the South its extremist interpretation of Islam.
 

By any measure, independence was a victory for the universal human right to freedom of religion or belief. However, while South Sudan’s people are finally free of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s tyranny, those remaining under his rule are not. Bashir’s regime and Khartoum’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) continue to commit egregious human rights violations.

February 16, 2012 | by Felice D. Gaer and Richard D. Land

The following article appeared in the Des Moines Register yesterday.  For a link to the original article, go to

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120216/OPINION01/302160023/Guest-columnists-China-s-leaders-must-honor-religious-freedoms.

Where is Gao Zhisheng?
 

When Vice President Xi Jinping, China’s future president, visited the White House this week, President Obama should have pressed him to reveal the whereabouts of China’s famed human rights and religious freedom attorney and other dissidents who have disappeared while in Chinese custody.

February 9, 2012 | by Leonard A. Leo and Elizabeth H. Prodromou

The following article appeared in The Hill today.  For a link to the original article, go to http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/209781-honoring-religious-freedom-after-arab-spring .

As Egypt marks the first anniversary of Hosni Mubarak’s historic departure on February 11, urgent challenges await it and other Middle Eastern and North African states. From Tunisia to Egypt, elections raise hopes for democracy. Yet the ballot box alone will not ensure the triumph of human rights and freedom over tyranny and oppression. What happens after the elections is as critical.
 

January 25, 2012 | by Leonard A. Leo and Rev. William Shaw

The following op-ed appeared in the Baltimore Sun on January 23, 2012.  For a link to the original article, go to

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-nigeria-20120123,0,6743343.story

Since the arrival of the New Year, America's Nigerian diaspora, including its significant community in Maryland, must be dismayed by the news from Africa's most populous country. The reluctance of Nigeria's government to prevent or punish violence between Muslims and Christians has invited further violations of religious freedom and losses of innocent life.

For Your Consideration
December 15, 2011

By FELICE D. GAER and RICHARD D. LAND

Each year, asylum seekers come to the United States seeking refuge from religious and other forms of persecution. Desiring new lives of freedom and dignity, many confront a system that, in the name of security, treats them like criminals.
 

The Hill's Congress Blog - Where Lawmakers Come To Blog
December 12, 2011

By Felice D. Gaer and Nina Shea
Commissioners on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)

While Americans routinely enjoy religious freedom, most people live in places where it is seriously restricted.

In 1998, Congress passed, and the President signed into law, the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), committing America to support this universal human right abroad. As Congress attends to the issue of the reauthorization of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which IRFA created and on which we've served, it's time to address some myths about backing religious freedom overseas:

• Myth:  Promoting religious freedom supports a minor, narrow right to practice religious rites.

From food to clothing, work to play, births to funerals, weddings to holy days, worship to prayer, and almsgiving to thanksgiving, religion or belief is an integral part of identity and daily living for billions of people.
 

For Your Consideration
December 10, 2011

The following essay appeared as follows in the Yale Journal of International Affairs:

http://yalejournal.org/2011/12/international-standards-for-constitutional-religious-freedom-protections/ 

Recommendations by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)

Several countries in the world are or soon will be drafting new constitutions.  It is vital that these constitutions protect universal human rights, including the right to freedom of religion or belief.   Based on its experience analyzing constitutions against international standards,[1] the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) offers the following guideposts for the full protection of religious freedom consistent with international human rights law:

Freedom of Religion or Belief is a Universal Right

The 193 member states of the United Nations have agreed, by signing the UN Charter, to “practice tolerance” and to “promot[e] and encourag[e] respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion.”  These rights and freedoms include the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief, which is protected and affirmed in numerous international instruments, including the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the 1981 Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief.
 

December 1, 2011 | by Azizah Y. al-Hibri and Richard D. Land 

The following article appeared in the San Jose Mercury News on November 30, 2011:

On Nov. 6, Burmese soldiers burst into a church in the state of Kachin, burning and looting it, severely beating its pastor, the Rev. Yajawng Hkawng, and kidnapping 50 of its members for forced labor, including women whom they reportedly raped.

Despite the government's recent words and deeds suggesting reform, such stories remain disturbingly common in Burma, now officially known as Myanmar. Rohingya Muslims, for example, are routinely arrested and tortured when they cannot pay extortion money. Hundreds of Buddhist monks are in prison for peaceful criticism of the government, including U Gambira, who has been so badly beaten that his relatives worry about his physical and mental health.

When she arrives in Burma on Wednesday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton should stress to her hosts the imperative of fundamental reform. Despite some positive steps taken by the new civilian government, including the release of Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and 200 other prisoners of conscience and an easing of some Internet controls, Burma remains one of the world's most egregious human rights and religious freedom violators and continues to face economic and political sanctions for its misconduct.

November 9, 2011 | By Leonard A. Leo and Elizabeth H. Prodromou 

Education is a powerful force that shapes how individuals respond to fundamental differences of opinion and belief. It can encourage tolerance and respect for all, but it can also foster disdain and contempt for those who dissent from prevailing orthodoxies.