Oct 13
Oct 13th 2:00pm
-
Oct 13th 3:00pm
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
USCIRF Conversation: New Report on Uzbekistan’s Religious Prisoners
Wednesday, October 13, 2021
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET
Virtual Event
Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a virtual event discussing the findings of USCIRF’s new report, Uzbekistan's Religious and Political Prisoners: Addressing a Legacy of Repression. The report documents credible evidence that the Uzbek government continues to imprison over 2,000 peaceful religious believers. It also highlights the personal cases of 81 individuals, many of whom were subject to torture and other forms of abuse.
Uzbekistan has some of the most repressive laws on religious practice anywhere in the world. Since 2016, the Uzbek government has initiated a series of reforms, including the release of certain categories of religious and political prisoners. Nevertheless, the government has yet to provide the identities of those released or provide any information about those individuals that remain incarcerated.
USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza and Vice Chair Nury Turkel will be joined by the author of the report, Steve Swerdlow, Associate Professor of the Practice of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California and former Senior Central Asia Researcher at Human Rights Watch, for this discussion. The event will be moderated by USCIRF Director of Outreach and Policy Dwight Bashir and will include Q&A for attendees.
Panelists
- Nadine Maenza, Chair, USCIRF
- Nury Turkel, Vice Chair, USCIRF
- Steve Swerdlow, Esq., Associate Professor, University of Southern California
- Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF
This virtual event is open to the public and media. The video recording will be posted on the Commission website. For any additional questions, please contact [email protected].
Oct 5, 2021
USCIRF Releases New Report on Religious Freedom in Nigeria’s Kano State
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report detailing religious freedom violations by Kano state authorities in northern Nigeria:
Kano State Issue Update – This report catalogues recent religious freedom violations committed by Kano state authorities, which represent some of the most egregious in Nigeria. In recent years—including in 2021—Kano authorities have arrested, charged, and convicted several individuals of blasphemy, prohibited broadcast stations from airing religious content, restricted religious poets and performers, and arrested and detained individuals from the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community based on the enforcement of their interpretation of Shari’a (Islamic law).
In its 2021 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. State Department designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for engaging in and tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations. USCIRF published a factsheet on violent Islamist groups in northern Nigeria in 2021 and featured a podcast episode on “Why the State Department Should Re-designate Nigeria as a CPC.”
###
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].
Oct 4, 2021
USCIRF Alarmed by Violence against Christians & Shi’a Muslims in Nigeria
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today condemned recent instances of violence against religious communities in Nigeria, including attacks on Christians in Kano state and Kaduna state and violence against Shi’a Muslims in Abuja.
“Vulnerable religious communities in Nigeria are under attack,” said USCIRF Commissioner Tony Perkins. “We are devastated by news of these recent attacks and outraged that the Nigerian government has not done more to prevent this violence and bring justice to the perpetrators.”
On Sunday, September 26 a violent mob in Kano State attacked and killed Christian Reverend Yohanna Shuaibu, in retaliation for his alleged involvement in converting a local member of a Muslim family to Christianity. That same day, armed militants attacked two Christian communities in Kaduna state, killing 49 people. Kaduna State is a Muslim majority state where Christian communities have borne the brunt of a vicious ethnoreligious conflict for many years. On Tuesday, September 28, Nigerian security forces reportedly shot and killed eight Shi’a Muslims in their response to a Shi’a procession marking the holiday of Arbaeen.
“Three attacks on vulnerable religious communities in three days is unacceptable,” said USCIRF Commissioner Frederick A. Davie. “We call on the U.S. Department of State to redesignate Nigeria a country of particular concern for engaging in and tolerating these systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of international religious freedom.”
USCIRF recently addressed the topic of religious freedom conditions in Nigeria on an episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast. In its 2021 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State redesignate Nigeria as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, and Boko Haram as an “entity of particular concern,” or EPC. USCIRF has also produced recent analyses on religious freedom conditions in Nigeria and violations committed by militant Islamist groups in northern Nigeria.
###
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 or belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].