Alongside advocacy efforts, targeted programming is a tool certain governments and intergovernmental agencies use to strengthen religious freedom. There have been several key programs that have advanced international religious freedom in Asia, including the now terminated USAID’s Asia Religious and Ethnic Freedom (REF) program and the United Nation’s Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM).

On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight podcast, Chair Vicky Hartzler speaks with Nolen Deibert, former Chief of Party of the USAID-funded Asia Religious and Ethnic Freedom (REF), as well as Nicholas Koumjian, the Head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM). They focus their discussion on the benefits of programming that advances religious freedom, particularly in Asia.

Algeria’s Ongoing Barriers to Religious Freedom

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following report on Algeria:   

Algeria Country Update – Algeria continues to enforce far-reaching constraints on freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), affecting both individual worshippers and organized religious groups. Authorities have consistently delayed or obstructed religious material imports—including Bibles and educational resources—at the Port of Algiers, thereby restricting access for Catholic, Protestant, and other minority religious communities nationwide. These limitations coincide with ongoing legal proceedings against these groups, underscoring a wider pattern of state pressure on non-Muslim and disfavored Muslim communities. This publication assesses these interrelated challenges and underscores the systemic and ongoing nature of religious freedom restrictions in Algeria.

In its 2026 Annual Report, USCIRF continues to recommend Algeria’s inclusion on the U.S. Department of State’s Special Watch List (SWL) due to the country’s systematic and ongoing religious freedom violations.  

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency 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].