USCIRF Delegation Travels to Sri Lanka to Assess Religious Freedom Conditions

Washington, DC – United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Commissioners Stephen Schneck and David Curry traveled with staff to Colombo, Trincomalee, and Jaffna in Sri Lanka this month and held meetings to assess religious freedom concerns.

“We appreciated the opportunity to meet with Sri Lankan officials, religious leaders, civil society, academics, and journalists to discuss religious freedom issues in the country,” said USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck. “USCIRF acknowledges that religious communities have taken initiative to establish inter-faith dialogues at the local level, however, the Sri Lankan government must amend or repeal current discriminatory policies and legislation to allow for greater religious freedom for Hindu, Christian, and Muslim minority communities.”

USCIRF remains concerned about the Sri Lankan government’s detention of religious minorities through arbitrary use of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Act. Prisoners of conscience, human rights defenders, and religious minority communities report fears of surveillance by authorities. Additionally, in the north and east of the country, the Sri Lankan Department of Archeology has increasingly collaborated with local authorities and Buddhist clergy to facilitate the expropriation of Muslim and Hindu religious sites.  

“Challenges regarding the registration of places of worship, particularly churches and mosques, must be addressed by authorities. USCIRF urges the Sri Lankan government, at both the local and national levels, to pass guidelines that allow for a more transparent registration process,” said USCIRF Commissioner David Curry. “We also call for Sri Lankan authorities to offer more robust protection to religious minorities who report increased acts of discrimination, including intimidation, violence, and hate speech.”

In 2023, USCIRF recommended Sri Lanka be included on the U.S. Department of State’s Special Watch List for engaging in or tolerating severe religious freedom violations. USCIRF highlighted these concerns in its 2023 Annual Report and in a Country Update on Religious Freedom Conditions in Sri Lanka.

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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 and belief. To interview a commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].

USCIRF Condemns Nicaragua’s Expulsion of Arbitrarily Detained Priests  

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) condemns the Nicaraguan government’s expulsion of ten arbitrarily detained Catholic clergymen featured in USCIRF’s Frank R. Wolf Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List: Jaime Iván Montesinos Sauceda, Fernando Zamora Silva, Osman José Amador Guillén, Eugenio Rodríguez Benavides, Julio Ricardo Norori, Iván Centeno, Cristóbal Gadea, Álvaro Toledo, Ramón Esteban Angulo Reyes, and Yesner Cipriano Pineda Meneses. The expulsion of the clergymen to the Vatican is the Ortega regime’s latest attack against the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which has been outspoken in its criticism of the deteriorating religious freedom conditions in the country.

“While USCIRF is heartened that the arbitrarily detained clergymen are no longer unjustly held in prison, we are appalled that they have been exiled from their homeland for peacefully practicing their religion,” said USCIRF Vice Chair Frederick A. Davie. “We emphatically reiterate that everyone has the right to adhere to any religion or belief of their choice and to freely express the dictates of their conscience without being targeted by government authorities.”

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo have intensified their persecution of the Catholic Church over the last five years. Within just the past year, the Ortega-Murillo regime has canceled the legal status and seized the property of Catholic universities and charities, arbitrarily expelled priests and nuns, and arrested Catholic university students as well as journalist Victor Ticay for recording a banned Easter celebration and posting the footage online. In February, the government sentenced Catholic Bishop Rolando Álvarez to 26 years in prison on spurious charges, including “undermining national security and sovereignty, spreading [fake news] through information technology, obstructing an official in the performance of his duties, [and] aggravated disobedience or contempt of authority.”

In March, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution condemning “the growing restrictions imposed by Nicaragua on the exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the arbitrary arrest and harassment of religious leaders.” In August, USCIRF applauded the U.S. Department of State for imposing visa restrictions on Nicaraguan officials responsible for imprisoning religious leaders such as Bishop Álvarez and baselessly shuttering religious institutions like the Jesuit Universidad Centroamericana. In September, the United Nations Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua said that the widespread human rights violations occurring in the country amount to crimes against humanity. On October 11, the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States adopted a resolution rejecting “the repressive measures taken by the government of Nicaragua against educational institutions and the Catholic Church.”

“As the international community comes together to condemn the Nicaraguan government’s unrelenting persecution of the Catholic Church and severe restrictions on religious freedom, USCIRF urges the U.S. government to continue leading efforts to hold the Ortega-Murillo regime accountable,” said USCIRF Commissioner Frank Wolf. “We cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering in Nicaragua.”

In its 2023 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended the U.S. Department of State redesignate Nicaragua as a Country of Particular Concern for its systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. In November 2022, USCIRF held a hearing on the “Crackdown on Religious Freedom in Nicaragua” and discussed the situation in an episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast.

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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 and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected]