FOR YOUR INFORMATION

February 24, 2015 | By Eric P. Schwartz & M. Zuhdi Jasser

The following op-ed appeared in USA Today on February 24, 2015.

Given the record numbers of people from Syria, Iraq, Burma and elsewhere who fled their homes, 2014 could well be called the Year of the Refugee. Throughout the year, heartbreaking numbers were on the move, trapped in war zones or languishing in refugee camps. The obvious questions are what is driving the dramatic surge and how can the United States and the world respond in 2015.

As early as June of 2014, the scope of the problem became tragically evident. During that month, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced that, for the first time since World War II, there were more than 50 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world, half of them children under 18 years old. The UNHCR also estimates that at least 10 million people are stateless, more than one-third of them children, with a child born stateless every 10 minutes.

And early in December, the World Food Program was forced for a few days to suspend aid, mostly in Lebanon, to nearly two million Syrian refugees. The UN food agency couldn't cover the sheer number of crises convulsing the world.

It is not difficult to discern the source of this misery. Political tyranny and religious intolerance and persecution — two sides of a deadly coin — have created massive suffering. In Syria, for example, the regime's suppression of a democratic movement devolved into a struggle between the Assad government and anti-Assad rebels, which in turn has become a calamitous sectarian war. To maintain its grip on power, the government has closed ranks among his Alawite-Baathist networks and targeted opponents, largely from the country's Sunni Muslim majority. The government's indiscriminate shelling alone has cost tens of thousands of civilian lives. Meanwhile, terrorist groups, from ISIL to al Qaeda, seek to destroy religious minority communities, including Christians and Alawites, due to their faith. As a result, 3.2 million Syrians, mostly Sunnis, are now refugees.

In Iraq, ISIL has subjected the country's Yazidi and Christian minorities in the north to terrifying abuses, from slavery to murder, threatening their existence. As a result of ISIL's depredations against these and other communities, including dissenting Sunnis who refuse to adopt their interpretations of Islam, more than two million Iraqis are now refugees.

In Burma, mounting discrimination, including continued denial of citizenship and violence against Rohingya Muslims has worsened their already-bleak predicament. Today, more than 800,000 Rohingya remain stateless, a larger number than any other religious or ethnic group in the world, and thousands have fled the country in recent months.

In dealing with the humanitarian imperatives that result from refugee flight, the United States and other governments must respond effectively and generously.

To be sure, Washington has continued to play a leadership role. The administration is now providing about $6 billion annually in international humanitarian assistance, and the United States is by far the largest funder of refugee assistance worldwide.

But the United States can and should do more. While refugee numbers have increased substantially worldwide, the U.S. annual refugee resettlement ceiling — a critical life-line for refugees who will never return home — has not. The administration should increase our annual ceiling from 70,000 to at least 125,000, which would help alleviate suffering of the most vulnerable refugees from places like Syria. Washington should also provide the Department of Homeland Security and other relevant federal agencies the funding and staff to help conduct background checks, process applications in a timely manner and eliminate long delays. And the administration should ask Congress for additional support to the Department of Health and Human Services, which helps states provide social services to new arrivals. Finally, the administration should be encouraging other governments around the world to do more.

These actions reflect our values, and our proud tradition of protecting of the most vulnerable. They will also demonstrate U.S. worldwide humanitarian leadership, and communicate to people worldwide our solidarity with victims of persecution and other human rights violations.

But ultimately, the tragedy of forced displacement will end only with the rejection and defeat of perspectives that promote intolerance and create refugees in the first place.

The risks of inaction are clear. If countries fail to prioritize political tolerance, human rights and religious freedom, the result will be more deadly conflict, failed states and millions suffering and on the move.

When political leaders fully embrace the idea that freedom and tolerance are antidotes to perpetual instability and strife, the end to the refugee nightmare will be closer at hand.

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns the barbarous murder of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by a Libyan affiliate of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which brutally beheaded them on camera.

“We grieve for these innocent young men and send our deepest condolences to their families.  These men were kidnapped and beheaded solely because they were Coptic Christians.  Once again, ISIL shows the world what it is: a barbaric, nihilistic group that wants only to kill and terrorize all who do not adhere to its extremist beliefs.  ISIL’s targets of intolerance have included reporters, aid workers, a Jordanian pilot, Muslims who do not share ISIL’s intolerant views, and especially members of minority religious communities, be they Christians, Yazidis, or other religious minorities,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.   

The men reportedly left Egypt in hopes of finding work in Libya, and were kidnapped in separate incidents near Serte in Libya last December and January.  In a video broadcast via a website that supports Islamic State, the 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians were seen being marched to a beach, forced to kneel and then beheaded.  Thirteen of the 21 Copts were from the same village of al-Our in Egypt.  Egypt is home to the largest number of Christians in the Middle East, who make up an estimated 10% of the nation’s 80 million citizens, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.

“These murders sadly underscore the perilous status of religious minorities and the threat to religious freedom across the Middle East.  USCIRF urges the United States and like-minded nations to redouble efforts to defend peaceful religious communities against ISIL’s violent religious repression and brutality, and provide humanitarian assistance to those who have been displaced,” said Lantos Swett.

Click here for USCIRF’s press releases on ISIL.

Click here for USCIRF’s FY 2014 Annual Report. 

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

February 6, 2015 | USCIRF

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) commends President Obama for deepening relations with India while also recognizing religious freedom concerns during his three-day trip to the country in late January, concerns he reiterated at the February 5 National Prayer Breakfast.  On both occasions, the President highlighted how India’s success is dependent on not being “splintered along the lines of religious faith” and “in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs -- acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation.”

“President Obama’s timely comments underscore the importance of India getting religious freedom right,” said USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett.  “This is a challenge that India must and can address, given its diversity and long history of democratic values.  India’s history includes both Article 25 of its constitution – which provides for freedom of conscience and the free profession, practice, and propagation of religion – and its international commitments.  India can meet this challenge by protecting religious minorities and holding accountable the perpetrators of religiously-motivated harassment, intimidation and violence,” concluded Lantos Swett.

The President’s concerns come at a time of increasing abuses against India’s minority religious communities.  Hindu nationalist groups, such as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), have assaulted these communities and forced community members to convert.  In just the last three months, five churches were attacked in Delhi; Hindu nationalists reportedly forcibly converted Christians and Muslims; and a mob of more than 5,000 people attacked the majority-Muslim village of Azizpur, Bihar, killing three Muslims and setting about 25 houses on fire.  In addition, on February 5, police detained hundreds of Christians demonstrating against attacks on churches in New Delhi, including John Dayal, a human rights activist, who testified on April 4, 2014 before the Tom Lantos Commission on “The Plight of Religious Minorities in India.”

“India is one of the United States’ most important partners,” continued Lantos Swett.  “It is the world’s largest democracy with nearly 1.22 billion people, a deeply pluralistic society, and the birthplace of numerous religions.  This society includes the world’s third-largest Muslim population and a Christian population larger than several European countries.  Our two nations share many values, and upholding religious freedom must be one of them,” Lantos Swett said.

Since 2009 USCIRF designated India as a Tier 2 country, noting since 2014 increased communal and religiously-motivated attacks and slow and ineffective redress for victims of past incidents, leading to a culture of impunity.

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