USCIRF Urges President Biden to Raise Religious Freedom Concerns During India State Visit

WASHINGTON, DC –The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) urges President Joseph R. Biden to address concerning issues of religious freedom and other related human rights in India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming state visit. For the past several years, the Indian government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has supported discriminatory national and state-level policies that severely hinder and restrict the religious freedom of minority groups.

“With India’s upcoming state visit, the Biden administration has a unique opportunity to explicitly incorporate religious freedom concerns into the two countries’ bilateral relationship,” said USCIRF Commissioner David Curry. “It is vital the U.S. government acknowledge the Indian government’s perpetration and toleration of particularly severe violations of religious freedom against its own population and urge the government to uphold its human rights obligations.”

Support for religious organizations and human rights groups targeted for their advocacy of religious freedom is key to addressing ongoing religious freedom violations. Given discriminatory policies such as hijab bans, anti-conversion laws, and the Citizenship Amendment Act, it is critical that India’s government advance human rights for all religious communities in India and promote religious freedom, dignity, and interfaith dialogue.

“It is deeply concerning that the Indian government continues to implement policies that negatively impact Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, and Hindu Dalit communities,” said USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck. “During this state visit, we ask President Biden to raise religious freedom with Prime Minister Modi directly, including by urging him to amend or repeal polices that target and repress religious minorities.”

USCIRF has recommended the U.S. Department of State designate India as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, each year since 2020, for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, and again most recently in its 2023 Annual Report. USCIRF also published an issue update on India’s state-level anti-conversion laws, providing further context on India’s use of these laws to target religious minorities.

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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 threats to 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].

USCIRF Delegation Travels to Kazakhstan to Assess Religious Freedom Conditions

Washington, DC - The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Commissioner Nury Turkel and staff traveled to Almaty and Astana, Kazakhstan from May 22-26 to meet with government officials, religious communities, human rights defenders, and other civil society representatives to discuss persistent religious freedom concerns.

“We appreciate the Kazakh government’s continued willingness to engage with international partners, including USCIRF, on religious freedom issues and potential reforms. The Kazakh government must revise its laws and policies restricting this right, such as by repealing or minimizing administrative punishments for various religious ‘offenses,’” said USCIRF Commissioner Turkel. “We will continue to advocate for the United States government to press Kazakhstan to take bolder and more significant steps to bring its current practices in line with international human rights standards.”

Kazakhstan continues to restrict religious activities through a prohibitive religion law, suppress groups and individuals perceived as following “nontraditional” religions, and uphold a state-sanctioned version of Islam that precludes differing interpretations. Authorities have penalized hundreds of individuals with fines for their religious activities and have imprisoned at least ten Muslims on unsubstantiated charges related to social media posts on Islam. The government has also prohibited schoolgirls from attending class with religious head coverings.

“Institutional issues in Kazakhstan remain unaddressed. For example, the Kazakh government continues to arbitrarily apply an overly broad criminal code, resulting in unduly severe prison sentences for online religious activities, particularly of Muslim men. In addition, government surveillance of seemingly all religious communities creates widespread fear that authorities could target anyone, at any time, for ‘violating’ the religion law,” continued Commissioner Turkel. “We call for Kazakhstan to release all those imprisoned due to their religious activities or beliefs immediately.”

Since 2013, USCIRF has recommended Kazakhstan for inclusion on the U.S. Department of State’s Special Watch List or listed it as a “Tier 2” country for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom. Recent USCIRF reporting highlighted these concerns in an Issue Update on Kazakhstan’s Religion Law Amendments, a report on Tolerance, Religious Freedom, and Authoritarianism, and a podcast on Religious Prisoners of Conscience in Kazakhstan.

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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].