Press Releases

3/18/16: New USCIRF Commissioner Appointed
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 21, 2016   WASHINGTON, DC – At the recommendation of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Ambassador Jackie Wolcott was appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on March 14.  Ambassador Wolcott will... Read More
3/18/16: USCIRF Welcomes Genocide Determination; Urges Focus as well on al-Assad Regime
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MArch 18, 2016   Washington, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) welcomes the State Department’s decision proclaiming that groups including Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’a Muslims in Iraq and Syria are victims of genocide by ISIL... Read More
3/18/16: Crimea: Religious Freedom Abuses Must Stop
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 18, 2016   WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two years ago today, Russia unlawfully annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, cynically using the Orthodox “culture, civilization, and human values” that Russia and Ukraine supposedly share to justify this... Read More
3/14/16: Syria: Five Years of Suffering Must End
For Immediate Release March 14, 2016   WASHINGTON, D.C. — March 15 marks the 5th anniversary of the peaceful protests that set the stage for the Syrian conflict.  This conflict has spawned a devastating humanitarian crisis with a death toll ranging between 250,000 and 470,000... Read More
3/3/16: India: USCIRF Not Issued Visas
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 3, 2016   WASHINGTON, D.C.  – The Indian government today failed to issue visas to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in time for a long planned trip to India. The goal of the Commission’s trip was to discuss and assess... Read More
3/1/16: Pakistan: On Fifth Anniversary of Shahbaz Bhatti Assassination, USCIRF Calls for Reform and Repeal of Blasphemy Law
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 1, 2016   WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on March 2 will mark the fifth anniversary of the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti, Pakistan’s Federal Minister of Minorities Affairs, who was slain by Tehrik-i-... Read More
2/25/16: Bangladesh: Action Needed as USCIRF Marks Anniversary of Avijit Roy’s Murder
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 25, 2016   WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) solemnly marks the one-year anniversary on February 26 of the brutal murder of Avijit Roy, a Bangladeshi-American secular blogger.  Attackers wielding... Read More
2/1/16: Pakistan: USCIRF Calls for the Immediate Release of Abdul Shakoor and the Dropping of all Charges
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 1, 2016   WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns the arrest, detention, and sentencing of Abul Shakoor, an 80-year-old optician, for propagating the Ahmadiyya Muslim faith, which is banned... Read More
1/19/16: USCIRF: Release Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 19, 2016   The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) solemnly marks the 10 year anniversary tomorrow of the illegal removal and detention of Eritrean Orthodox Patriarch Abune Antonios as head of the Eritrean Orthodox Church.... Read More
1/6/16: USCIRF Remembers Victims of Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher Attacks
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 7, 2016 WASHINGTON, D.C. – One year later, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) solemnly remembers the 17 victims of the January 7 and 9, 2015 attacks on the offices of Charlie Hebdo magazine and the Hyper Cacher kosher supermarket in Paris... Read More

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