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September 3, 2013 | By USCIRF

WASHINGTON, DC - President Barack Obama on August 30, 2013 announced his intent to appoint Dr. James J. Zogby to serve on the U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

"USCIRF warmly welcomes Dr. Zogby as our newest incoming Commissioner. My fellow Commissioners and I eagerly await Dr. Zogby adding his voice to ours in support of humanity's first freedom,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Robert P. George. "Given his knowledge, experience and commitment, I am confident that he will make significant contributions to our work on behalf of the cherished right of freedom of religion or belief and its fuller integration into U.S. foreign policy.”

Dr. Zogby is President of the Arab American Institute, which he founded in 1985. He is also Managing Director of Zogby Research Services, and a Visiting Professor of Social Research and Public Polling at New York University in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. In 1982, he co-founded Save Lebanon, Inc., a non-profit relief organization which funds social welfare projects in Lebanon. Earlier in his career, Dr. Zogby co-founded the Palestine Human Rights Campaign and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He is the current Chairman of the Editorial Advisory Committee for SkyNewsArabia News. He has hosted various television programs, including A Capital View on MBC from 1993 to 2001, and Viewpoint with James Zogby on Abu Dhabi Television from 2001 to 2011. His column, "Washington Watch,” is currently published in 14 Arab and South Asian countries. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Zogby received a B.A. from Le Moyne College and a Ph.D. in Comparative Religions from Temple University.

Comprised of nine members, USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and House of Representatives.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at (202) 523-3258 or [email protected] .

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August 21, 2013 | By Robert P. George and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in The Washington Post on August 21, 2013.

Although religious freedom is a pivotal human right, critical to national security and global stability, key provisions of the landmark International Religious Freedom Act are being neglected years after its passage. A number of studies demonstrates the link between freedom of religion and societal well-being, while its absence correlates closely with instability and violent religious extremism, including terrorism. Many governments, including those topping the U.S. foreign policy and security agendas, perpetrate or tolerate acts of religious repression, such as arbitrary detention, torture and murder.

The International Religious Freedom Act provides vital tools, including identifying and sanctioning the world's worst violators. But over many years and different administrations, the executive branch has not employed them fully or in a timely manner. With a key deadline for action arriving this month, it is time to confront this unwise failure to act.

When the act was passed in 1998, it made the promotion of religious freedom an official U.S. foreign policy priority and established at the State Department an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom. The legislation also created a bipartisan and independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom , on which we serve, to monitor this right worldwide and make policy recommendations to Congress, the secretary of state and the president.

Congress gave the legislation real teeth through a groundbreaking enforcement mechanism: requiring annual administration review and designation of "countries of particular concern,” defined as those governments engaging in or allowing "systematic, ongoing, egregious” violations.

While the law provides the administration with flexibility in how it will pressure those countries, the review and designation process is not discretionary. The law requires it. Whatever one's view of appropriate sanctions for violators, there can be little disagreement on the imperative of bearing witness to abuses.

Unfortunately, neither Republican nor Democratic administrations have consistently designated countries that clearly meet the standard for offenders. The Bush administration issued several designations in its first term but let the process fall off track in its second. The Obama administration issued designations only once during its first term, in August 2011.

The result? Violators such as Egypt, Pakistan and Vietnam are escaping the accountability that the International Religious Freedom Act is meant to provide.

Even those nations currently designated as "countries of particular concern” could escape accountability if there are no designations this month; under the law, countries remain designated until removed, but any corresponding penalties expire after two years. Without new designations, sanctions attached in 2011 to Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea and Sudan will expire this month. And while those countries are subject to sanctions under other U.S. laws, allowing the International Religious Freedom Act's sanctions authority to expire would send the disturbing message that the United States won"t implement its own law on religious freedom.

To be sure, the Obama administration has taken some positive steps. It created a State Department working group on religion and foreign policy and this month established a new faith-based office , both tasked with religious engagement.

Also this month, Secretary of State John Kerry announced a U.S. Strategy on Religious Leader and Faith Community Engagement . As our commission has recommended, promoting religious freedom is among the three key objectives of this engagement.

Engagement should be part of any strategy for the promotion of religious freedom. But what will move gross offenders to stop persecuting individuals if not the credible threat of consequences? By letting the process of designating offenders atrophy, the United States surrenders its leverage while creating a chilling precedent for other rights. If this process is allowed to wither, what will happen to similarly designed programs such as the tiered system of the Trafficking in Persons Report, which was modeled on this approach?

The process of designating countries of particular concern works when deployed as intended - that is, not as a single bludgeon but as a targeted tool. When diplomacy is combined with the prospect or reality of such designations and attendant sanctions or other specific diplomatic and related actions, repressive governments - including Vietnam and Turkmenistan - have made meaningful changes. Moreover, countries often consider such a designation a stigma and blow to their world standing. Because a designation of concern is rightly perceived as an important factor in a country's relationships with the United States, it can create political will for reform where none otherwise would exist.

For the sake of freedom and security, it is time to apply the International Religious Freedom Act fully and the country designation process decisively. Congress has the right and the duty to press the executive branch to do so.

Robert P. George is chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Katrina Lantos Swett is a vice chairwoman of the commission.

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

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August 16, 2013 | By USCIRF

USCIRF is deeply concerned by the violence against protestors and the targeting of churches in Egypt. The government's excessive use of force when breaking up protests, the high number of deaths, the return to a state of emergency, and the targeting of Christians by extremists are all profoundly troubling. USCIRF recognizes the grave issues at stake related to democracy, rule of law, and human rights in Egypt, and the Commission is particularly concerned about the immediate threats to religious minority communities.

"The level of violence against Coptic Christians, their property and businesses is unprecedented in modern Egypt, both in its scope and the number of churches and structures attacked,” said USCIRF Chairman Robert George. "This could portend even worse violence ahead if the situation is not brought under control. Assaulting religious minorities is not a legitimate form of protest against government action.”

Continued Chairman George, "Copts in particular, as well as other religious minorities, are among the most vulnerable to extremist reprisal violence. Thus far, churches have been attacked. But next could be indiscriminate violent acts targeting individuals and groups of Christians. USCIRF calls on the Egyptian government to immediately ensure the protection of places of worship and urges justice and accountability for perpetrators, both inside and outside of government. Impunity should not be allowed to prevail during such turbulent times.”

The Egyptian government confirmed that on August 14 more than 600 people were killed and thousands more injured after Egyptian security services dispersed a sit-in staged by former President Morsi's supporters. NGOs report that more than 50 Coptic Christian churches have been attacked across Egypt after the protest sites were cleared.

In USCIRF's 2013 Annual Report, the Commission recommended that Egypt be designated as a "country of particular concern” for particularly severe violations of religious freedom and that U.S. military aid be withheld until the Egyptian government has demonstrated it is implementing policies to protect freedom of religion and related human rights in Egypt. For more information, see the Annual Report's Egypt chapter, available here .

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at (202) 523-3258 or [email protected]