FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Robert P. George, the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, was elected on June 11, 2015 as Chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).  Dr. George was first appointed to the Commission in March 2012 by Speaker of the House John Boehner and reappointed to a second term in 2014. 

“I am honored to again serve as chair of USCIRF and work alongside my fellow commissioners in support of religious freedom and belief abroad,” said Dr. George. “World events underscore the importance of this fundamental freedom. Religious liberty is an essential human right and a key element in the quest for regional and global security. It deserves a seat at the table with economic and security concerns as the U.S. and other nations conduct their affairs.

“I also want to thank USCIRF’s immediate past-Chair, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett and Vice Chair, Dr. James J. Zogby for their leadership and vision this past year.  I look forward to continuing our work together,” said Dr. George, who served as USCIRF Chairman in 2013 and USCIRF Vice–Chairman in 2014.

Dr. George also is the Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.  He has been a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School, and is a Senior Fellow of the Witherspoon Institute. He has served on the President’s Council on Bioethics and as a presidential appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights. He has also served on UNESCO’s World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), of which he remains a corresponding member.

Also on June 11, two USCIRF Commissioners were elected Vice Chairs: Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser and Dean Eric P. Schwartz.  Dr. Jasser was appointed to the Commission by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2012 and reappointed to a second term in 2014.  President Barack Obama first appointed Eric Schwartz in 2013 and reappointed him to a second term in 2014.   

Dr. Jasser is the President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD) based in Phoenix, Arizona and a respected physician currently in private practice specializing in internal medicine and nuclear cardiology.

Mr. Schwartz is the dean of the Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and served for 25 years in senior public service positions in government, at the United Nations, and in the philanthropic and non-governmental communities.

Also serving on the Commission are Mary Ann Glendon, Dr. Daniel I. Mark, Thomas J. Reese, Hannah Rosenthal, Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett and Dr. James P. Zogby.

USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and House of Representatives.  USCIRF’s principal responsibilities are to review the facts and circumstances of violations of religious freedom internationally and to make policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State and Congress.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 11, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) wrote to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia to urge him to pardon Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khair. 

“Mr. Badawi is being unjustly held in a Saudi prison for nothing more than peacefully expressing on-line his internationally guaranteed rights to the freedoms of conscience and expression. Also imprisoned is his lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair, who is serving a 15-year sentence on trumped-up charges related to his work as a human rights defender.  Their imprisonment and the fifty lashes Mr. Badawi already has received from his sentence of 1,000 lashes constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and are contrary to international human rights standards,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.

View USCIRF Letter to Saudi King Salman Requesting the Pardon of Raif Badawi and Waleed Abu al-Khair.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

June 8, 2015

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) solemnly marks the one year anniversary of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) takeover of Mosul, and the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed, displaced, or forced to seek refuge in neighboring countries. These former residents of Mosul are among the more than two million Iraqis who fled their homes due to ISIL’s offensive. 

“One year ago, the world watched in horror as ISIL captured the city of Mosul and targeted its population, including its ancient and diverse religious communities,” said USCIRF Chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett. “While more than half a million people fled Mosul, those who remained have experienced killings, rape, torture, and kidnappings. Throughout northern Iraq, ISIL has killed and displaced hundreds of thousands, murdered dissenting Sunni clerics, kidnapped Christian priests and nuns, abducted Yazidi women and girls as sex slaves, and destroyed Sunni houses and businesses, Shi’a shrines and Christian churches.  ISIL’s unspeakable crimes and takeover of northern Iraq could well mark the end of that nation’s formerly religiously diverse makeup.”

USCIRF urges the United States to redouble its efforts to help protect and assist the region’s most vulnerable religious and ethnic minorities.  Furthermore, USCIRF calls on the U.S. government to raise its annual refugee resettlement ceiling from 70,000 to at least 100,000.  USCIRF also recommends that the U.S. government call for or support referral by the U.N. Security Council to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate ISIL violations in Iraq against religious and ethnic minorities, following the models used in Sudan and Libya, or encourage the Iraqi government to accept ICC jurisdiction to investigate.

“The United States and the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL must together ensure that the most vulnerable communities are protected, and that the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government security forces, where appropriate, are assisted to provide security for these communities,” said Lantos Swett.

In its 2015 Annual Report, USCIRF recommends that Iraq be designated a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) for its particularly severe violations of religious freedoms.  For more information on religious freedom condition in Iraq, see USCIRF’s 2015 Annual Report.

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