May 12
May 12th 10:30am
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May 12th 12:00pm
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Hearing
Ending Genocide:
U.S. Government Genocide Determinations and Next Steps
Wednesday, May 12, 2021
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM ET
Virtual Hearing
Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a virtual hearing that will highlight how the U.S. government has made the determination to call, or not to call, mass atrocities against religious groups genocide and offer recommendations to enhance U.S. efforts to respond to mass atrocities.
The 1948 Genocide Convention states that genocide occurs when specific acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. The Convention confers obligations on states to prevent and punish the crime of genocide. Since the United States ratified the Genocide Convention in 1988, the U.S. Department of State has determined that genocides occurred in Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Darfur, areas under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and most recently China. Official designations can increase international attention to the crimes, strengthen the case for multilateral pressure on the perpetrators, and bolster efforts for accountability. Genocide determinations are often made only after a thorough and lengthy investigative process.
Today, the Burmese military continues to violently target the mostly Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine State, and the Chinese government continues to hold the predominately Muslim Uyghur people in detention camps, enact measures to decrease the population, and actively separate children from their parents. What more can be done? How can the U.S. government more effectively work to halt ongoing mass atrocities against religious and other groups even in the absence of a genocide determination? Witnesses will explain how the U.S. government has made past genocide determinations, explore policy options once a determination has been made, and discuss strategies to prevent and stop mass atrocities against religious groups.
- Anurima Bhargava, Chair, USCIRF
Written Remarks - Tony Perkins, Vice Chair, USCIRF
Written Remarks
Panel
- Todd Buchwald, Professorial Lecturer in Law at George Washington University Law School; Former Ambassador, Office of Global Criminal Justice, U.S. Department of State
Written Testimony - Pari Ibrahim, Executive Director, Free Yezidi Foundation
Written Testimony - Beth Van Schaack, Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor of Human Rights, Stanford Law School; Former Deputy to the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice, U.S. Department of State
Written Testimony - Daniel Fullerton, Former Counsel, Public International Law & Policy Group (PILPG); Co-Author of PILPG report documenting atrocity crimes against the Rohingya
Written Testimony - Wai Wai Nu, Founder and Executive Director, Women’s Peace Network
Written Testimony
This hearing is open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, the public, and the media. Members of the media should register online and can email [email protected] for any questions or to schedule an interview. The video recording of the hearing will be posted on the Commission website. For any additional questions, please contact Nina Ullom at [email protected] or (202) 322-0232.
Apr 26, 2021
USCIRF Condemns Additional Prison Sentence for Iranian Religious Prisoner of Conscience
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today condemned the government of Iran for sentencing religious prisoner of conscience Golrokh Iraee to an additional year in prison, a ban on membership in political organizations, and a two-year travel ban on charges of “propaganda against the state.” Ms. Iraee, who is detained at Amol Prison in Mazandaran Province, was not present at the hearing and was not granted access to a lawyer.
“Iranian activist Golrokh Iraee's additional one-year sentence is an appalling violation of religious freedom,” said USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin, who advocates for Ms. Iraee as part of the Commission’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project. “The United States government must hold accountable officials responsible for this outrageous and unwarranted punishment by imposing targeted sanctions through the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, and through relevant Executive Orders."
Golrokh Iraee was jailed in October 2016 for an unpublished short story criticizing the religiously-justified practice of stoning adulterous women. She was released from prison in April 2019 but rearrested in November 2019 on a new three-year and seven-month sentence for “insulting the Supreme Leader” and “propaganda against the state.” In December 2020, guards entered her cell in Qarchak Prison using stun guns and dragged Iraee out by her hair. She was then transferred to Ward 2A of Evin Prison, which is run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Intelligence unit. On January 24, 2021 she was moved back to Qarchak prison and transferred hours later to Amol Prison. Judge Iman Afshari of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court imposed her latest sentence, about which she was informed April 12. She remains unable to make phone calls or contact her family and has also been denied visitation with her husband Arash Sadeghi, who is undergoing cancer treatment.
“Iran’s continued detention of this peaceful activist is a cowardly disregard of its international obligations to ensure freedom of religion or belief,” said USCIRF Commissioner Gary Bauer. “No person should face years in prison or be denied her basic rights for the mere suggestion that human beings should not be stoned to death.”
In its 2021 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended Iran for designation as a “country of particular concern,” or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom, as it has recommended every year since 2002. In August 2020, USCIRF released a factsheet on sanctioned religious freedom violators in Iran. In December 2020, the State Department redesignated Iran as a CPC.
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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].
Apr 26, 2021
This op-ed was originally published by Newsweek, on April 26, 2021.