Displaying results 1 - 11 of 11

Dec 7, 2020       There are 84 countries across the globe with criminal blasphemy laws on the books as of 2020. While only a handful of countries enforce these laws, there are still 84 countries in which a…
Feb 4, 2021   As the Biden administration begins to formulate its broader human rights policy, USCIRF highlights several priority countries when it comes to international religious freedom. Condemning and preventing…
Feb 25, 2021 On February 1, 2021, the Burmese military declared the results of the November 2020 democratic elections to be invalid, enacted a one-year state of emergency, and detained State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and…
Apr 9, 2021 Pancasila is a founding concept of Indonesia, comprising of five principles: monotheism, civilized humanity, national unity, deliberative democracy, and social justice. This concept came about at the onset of…
Apr 30, 2021 The program to resettle refugees to the United States has existed since 1980, with strong bipartisan support. Earlier this month, President Biden signed an emergency declaration to speed up refugee admissions into…
May 27, 2021 Blasphemy laws criminalize expression that insults or offends religious doctrines. Such laws are often used to restrict freedom of religion or belief. As of 2020, 84 countries still had blasphemy laws. The severity…
Aug 25, 2021 On August 25, 2017, the Burmese military, known as the Tatmadaw, launched a genocidal campaign in Rakhine State against the largely Muslim Rohingya community. The United Nations Independent Investigative Mechanism…
Apr 1, 2022 The Rohingya community in Burma have been targeted by the Burmese military (known as the Tatmadaw) with mass killings and rape since 2017, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee the country. Since the military coup…
Aug 25, 2022 August 25 marks the fifth anniversary of the start of the Burmese military’s genocidal campaign against the Rohingya people. The violence resulted in thousands of Rohingya dead, hundreds of thousands internally…
Oct 21, 2022 Seven out of ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) nations have blasphemy laws currently enshrined in their legal codes. USCIRF’s recent issue update reviews these blasphemy laws and their enforcement within this…
Dec 9, 2022 In November 2022, USCIRF visited Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, to assess the current conditions and issues that Burmese Rohingya refugees are facing. The Rohingya community, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Burma, have long fled…