FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 7, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today issued the following statement:  

USCIRF calls on the U.S. government to designate the Christian, Yazidi, Shi’a, Turkmen, and Shabak communities of Iraq and Syria as victims of genocide by ISIL.  USCIRF also urges American and other world leaders to condemn the genocidal actions and crimes against humanity of ISIL that have been directed at these groups and other ethnic and religious groups. USCIRF further urges a firm condemnation of the brutal persecution of, and crimes against humanity committed against, Sunni Muslims by the Assad regime in Syria and by ISIL in the case of Sunni Muslims who refuse to embrace their extremist ideology.

USCIRF also encourages continued and robust efforts by the U.S. and international community to bear witness to these crimes and make additional designations of genocide and crimes against humanity, whether those are committed by ISIL, the Assad regime, or others, as appropriate.

USCIRF recommended in its 2015 Annual Report that the U.S. government should support a referral by the UN Security Council to the International Criminal Court to investigate ISIL’s atrocities against religious groups in both Iraq and Syria.  USCIRF also noted in its 2015 Report that the al-Assad regime systemically has targeted and massacred Sunni Muslims, thereby creating the environment in which ISIL could rise and spread, threatening the entire region and all religious communities that reject its violent religious ideology, with the smallest religious minority communities facing an existential threat. 

 “The hallmark of genocide is the intent to destroy a national, racial, ethnic, or religious group, in whole or in part.  ISIL’s intent to destroy religious groups that do not subscribe to its extremist ideology in the areas in Iraq and Syria that it controls, or seeks to control, is evident in, not only its barbarous acts, but also its own propaganda,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George. “The al-Assad regime also must be held to account for its targeting primarily of Sunni Muslims and the crimes against humanity that it is committing.” 

For more information, please see USCIRF’s chapters in the 2015 Annual Report on Iraq and Syria.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact Travis Horne at [email protected] or 202-786-0615.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

December 1, 2015

USCIRF Calls for Continued Syrian Refugee Resettlement

Rigorous individualized vetting allows the United States to both welcome Syrian refugees and protect security.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today reiterates its support for the United States to continue resettling Syrian refugees.  USCIRF is horrified by the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris on November 13 and in Lebanon one day earlier and denounces in the strongest terms the brutality of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). USCIRF also stands with those who have fled this terror.

“The United States must continue to live up to our nation's core values which are reflected in our leadership in resettling vulnerable refugees,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Robert P. George.  “That responsibility starts with a generous policy of admitting those Syrian refugees to the United States who are vulnerable to the most horrific mistreatment – including murder, rape, torture, and enslavement.”

USCIRF understands the dangerous threat ISIL poses to the United States and the urgent need to ensure our nation's security. It is important to underscore that individuals seeking resettlement as refugees are among the most carefully vetted people to enter our country. Before being resettled in the United States, refugees must undergo rigorous interviews and background checks conducted by numerous U.S. government agencies. In the case of Syrian refugees, the U.S. government conducts additional security checks due to the circumstances in that country. 

“This rigorous individualized vetting allows the United States to both welcome Syrian refugees and protect security,” said Chairman George. “USCIRF also calls on the United States to prioritize the resettlement of Syrian refugees based on their vulnerability. Throughout the region, Christians and members of some other religious minority communities have been targeted by ISIL for persecution – and in some cases genocide – because of their faith.  At the same time, we recognize that ISIL has also targeted both Shia and Sunni Muslims who have resisted their violent ideology.  In these instances, religion, as an important factor in determining vulnerability, may legitimately be taken into account in the prioritization process.”

To read USCIRF's chapter on Syria in the 2015 Annual Report, click here.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

November 30, 2015 | M. Zuhdi Jasser and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in The Christian Science Monitor on November 30, 2015

Pope Francis arrived yesterday in the troubled nation of Central African Republic, the last part of his three-nation African tour.  While CAR has had bouts of political instability, the past two years have witnessed horrors that have plagued other nations  – explosive Muslim/Christian violence, along with targeted killing of people because of their faith and destruction of houses of worship.  Since late September, new fighting has led to nearly 100 deaths and 40,000 people being forced to flee their homes.

By his very presence, the Pope spotlighted the need for reconciliation between Christians and Muslims, which he expressed while visiting a Muslim area, as well as stronger protection for religious freedom and increased engagement by the international community.  This formula is critical not only to CAR’s future but to that of other countries facing similar challenges. 

CAR’s recent tribulations began with an all-too-familiar rebellion against the government in December 2012 leading to President François Bozizé’s ouster in March 2013.   What followed were forced disappearances, illegal detentions, torture, and political opponents being murdered.   But in one way, this rebellion was different: It was led by Michel Djotodia, the commander of the Séléka, a coalition of mostly Muslim rebels in a country that was 85 percent Christian.   It shocked many Central Africans who mistakenly viewed every Séléka depredation as Muslims deliberately targeting Christians.

In June 2013, Bozizé began plotting a return to power, recruiting local militias known as the anti-Balaka.  Bozizé manipulated Christian anger about Séléka abuses, including attacks on churches and Christian communities which spared mosques and Muslims, and depicted his forces as avenging Séléka assaults against non-Muslims.  Fighting escalated in December 2013, when the anti-Balaka began pummeling Muslim neighborhoods, homes, and businesses in Bangui, CAR’s capital city.  The ensuing tit-for-tat violence included targeted killings based on religious identity.    

Regional and international pressure forced out President Djotodia in January 2014 and parliament elected Bangui’s mayor, Catherine Samba Panza, as interim president two weeks later.  Violence continued through midyear, especially against Muslims.  The country’s de facto partition between the Séléka and the anti-Balaka and the signing of the Brazzaville peace accords in July produced a hollow, fragile pause in the bloodshed.   

But by that time, the damage had been done:  CAR was devastated and fractured along religious lines as never before.

Last year, the United Nations and the International Criminal Court (ICC) began investigating reports of genocide in CAR.  In December, the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Central African Republic issued its report which detailed atrocities on both sides.  

The report found a “pattern” in anti-Balaka atrocities of ethnic and religious cleansing against CAR’s Muslim minority.    Militia members told Muslims to leave the country or die, and hundreds were killed, including those fleeing in evacuation convoys.  Even before the fighting began, Muslims were only 15 percent of the population.  Since the anti-Balaka assaults, 99 percent of Bangui’s Muslims and 80 percent of CAR’s Muslim population have fled and 417 of the country’s 436 mosques have been destroyed.

While the COI found no evidence of ethnic or religious cleansing of Christians, it confirmed that Séléka fighters periodically targeted priests, pastors, and nuns, and church buildings and other institutions and raped and killed Christians while shielding Muslims.  

The Pope’s visit shines further light on the Séléka and anti-Balaka violence and human rights abuses and underscores the need for a response.  CAR’s leaders must ensure a future for Muslims by stressing that they are equal citizens.   They must help rebuild destroyed mosques and make sure that CAR’s national reconciliation forum recommendations are implemented.   The international community must continue aiding refugees and displaced persons.

The United States, for its part, should continue sanctioning Central Africans responsible for the violence and support the formation of a Special Criminal Court.  The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which we serve, urges the State Department to designate CAR a “country of particular concern,” marking it among the world’s worst religious freedom violators.  In all future engagements with CAR authorities, UN officials, and neighboring countries, the United States should include issues related to ending the bloodshed, supporting rule-of-law reforms and professionalizing CAR’s judiciary, reducing interfaith tensions, protecting religious freedom, and securing religious minority rights.  

CAR has endured a trauma that must not be replicated elsewhere.   For CAR’s sake and its own, the world must help bring aid to the innocent, justice to the guilty, and religious freedom, interfaith harmony, and reconciliation to that stricken land.

M. Zuhdi Jasser is a Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).  Katrina Lantos Swett is a USCIRF Commissioner.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0613.