Oct 1, 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

USCIRF Releases New Report about Religious Tensions and Fulani Communities in West and Central Africa

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report on religious tensions and Fulani communities in west and central Africa:

West and Central Africa Factsheet – This factsheet explores the role that religion plays in escalating violence committed by and against Fulani communities in west and central Africa. Predominantly Muslim and historically associated with cattle herding and livestock rearing, Fulani communities – one of the largest ethnic groups in the world – stretch across the African continent from Senegal to Sudan and have been both the victims and perpetrators of violence against civilians in many countries in recent years. Although the extent to which religious ideology contributes to driving this violence remains a subject of debate, the trend of increasing violence by and against Fulani groups is clearly aggravating religious tensions in countries such as Nigeria and the Central African Republic.

In its 2020 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S State Department designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for its ongoing, systematic, and egregious religious freedom violations. USCIRF also recommended that the State Department place the Central African Republic on its Special Watch List (SWL).

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on threats to religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].

 

Mar 18, 2024

USCIRF Calls for U.S. Government to Support Iraq’s Religious Communities on Anniversary of Genocide Determination

Washington, D.C. – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) solemnly marks the eighth anniversary of the U.S. Department of State’s determination in 2016 that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) perpetrated a genocide against northern Iraq’s Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’a Muslims. The State Department also determined that ISIS carried out crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed toward these same groups and, in some cases, Sunni Muslims, Kurds, and other minorities. USCIRF reiterates its call for the U.S. government to give greater support to Iraq’s diverse religious communities still suffering from the aftereffects of ISIS’s genocidal campaigns.

ISIS’s atrocities against Iraq’s religious and ethnic minorities were part of a deliberate campaign of genocide and crimes against humanity. Although ISIS’s threat has diminished, militant non-state actors and government-affiliated militias continue to perpetrate abuses against Yazidis, Christians, Shabaks, Shi’a and Sunni Muslim Turkmen, and other religious and ethnic minorities,” stated USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck. “USCIRF urges the United States to encourage the Iraqi government to curb the power of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and other state-affiliated forces who subject religious minorities to checkpoint harassment, interrogation, detention, torture, and efforts to usurp their political representation and leadership.”

In 2014, ISIS surged to dominance in northern Iraq. ISIS has systemically subjected the region’s diverse array of ethnic and religious minorities, including several indigenous groups, to atrocities such as mass execution, mass rape, systematic sexual slavery and forced labor, and forced religious conversion. On March 15, 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution finding that ISIS’s crimes against religious minorities in Iraq and Syria constitute genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. On March 17, 2016, Secretary of State John Kerry declared that ISIS had committed genocide and crimes against humanity against Yazidis, Christians, Shi’a Muslims, and others. In 2019, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS—including the United States and its local partners—achieved its territorial defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Today, minorities in Iraq continue to suffer for their religious and ethnic identity,” said USCIRF Commissioner Frank Wolf. “USCIRF calls on the U.S. government to support the governments of Iraq and its Kurdistan Region in their missions to rescue the 2,700 missing and enslaved Yazidi women and girls. The U.S. must also emphasize to the Iraqi and Kurdistan Regional governments the urgency of fully implementing the 2020 Sinjar Agreement and making the region safe for the return of genocide survivors, so that hundreds of thousands of Yazidis and others among the 1 million-plus Iraqis languishing in internal displacement can go home.” 

USCIRF has consistently highlighted the long aftermath of ISIS’s genocide against Iraq’s religious minorities, including threats to their administrative autonomy and political representation. USCIRF recently held a hearing identifying ways the U.S. government can work with the Iraqi federal government (IFG) and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to address religious freedom concerns, especially for the country’s vulnerable religious minorities. In September 2023, USCIRF also published a report examining recent developments as well as ongoing factors affecting religious freedom in Iraq.  

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected]

Mar 15, 2024

USCIRF Calls Attention to Prevalence of Anti-Muslim Hate Around the World

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is alarmed at the proliferation of incidents and expressions of anti-Muslim hatred around the world.

Today marks five years since the terrorist attack on the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. This devastating attack initiated the creation of the International Day to Combat Islamophobia. Given that the perpetrator broadcast these murders live over social media, USCIRF calls for better mechanisms to prevent widespread disinformation, hate speech, and incitement of violence toward religious minorities on all social media platforms,” said USCIRF Chair Abraham Cooper. “USCIRF also strongly urges the United States to call out foreign governments who fail to protect their Muslim communities from acts of anti-Muslim hatred wherever they occur. The scourge of anti-Muslim hatred must come to an end.”

Muslims experience bias, discrimination, and violence in many parts of the world. In Burma, the junta resists international efforts toward accountability for its genocidal campaign against the predominantly Muslim Rohingya community in Rakhine State, while also attempting to actively draft Rohingya into the military.

In China, Muslim communities are treated as an existential threat, culminating in the government’s perpetration of genocide against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. In India, the government maintains discriminatory policies that disproportionately target Muslims. These policies fuel hate speech, the demolition of mosques and houses in predominantly Muslim neighborhoods, and vigilante violence including rape. The implementation of India's Citizenship Amendment Act will explicitly exclude Muslim refugees fleeing persecution in neighboring countries, including Shi'a and Ahmadiyya Muslims from Pakistan and Afghanistan. In Algeria, Malaysia, and Pakistan, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community continues to be systematically denied the right to worship, targeted by vigilante violence with insufficient government response, and wrongfully detained under blasphemy laws.

Many countries in the European Union, such as Austria and France, retain legislation that impermissibly prohibits Muslim women and girls from wearing religious garb in public spaces. Throughout Europe, anti-Muslim bias also manifests through discrimination in public institutions, prejudice in the immigration process, online harassment, and violent attacks. Additionally, some European countries have passed or are considering legislation that would impact core religious traditions of Islam and Judaism, such as ritual slaughter and circumcision.   

This week is the start of Ramadan, the most holy month in the Islamic calendar. Given all that is happening in today’s world, Ramadan provides an especially important inflection point this year. USCIRF is particularly disturbed that Muslims and non-Muslims alike continue to have their right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion violated by governments, religious extremists, and non-state actors,” said USCIRF Commissioner Mohamed Magid. “All Muslims have the right to live in accordance with the dictates of their conscience, free from discrimination and acts of violence. USCIRF applauds the U.S. government for strongly condemning all forms of intolerance against Muslims, and supports its efforts to combat hatred and discrimination against members of Muslim communities.”

In its 2023 Annual Report, USCIRF identifies incidents and expressions of anti-Muslim hatred around the world. USCIRF also documents selected cases of Muslim religious prisoners of conscience in its Frank R. Wolf Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].