This report provides an overview of international humanitarian law’s protections for religious sites in conflict zones. The Geneva Conventions and their accompanying Protocols establish that religious sites may not be used for military purposes or…
May 14, 2024
USCIRF Releases New Report on Protection of Religious Sites During Armed Conflict
Washington, DC –The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released the following new report:
Protection of Religious Sites…
Aug 2, 2024
Ten years ago, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a campaign of mass atrocities to achieve the religious and ethnic cleansing of Yazidis, Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriac Christians, Shi’a and Sunni Muslim Turkmens,…
Aug 2, 2024
USCIRF Solemnly Commemorates the Tenth Anniversary of ISIS’s Genocide Against Iraqi and Syrian Religious Minorities
Washington, D.C. – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) this week commemorates the…
Aug 9, 2024
Ten years ago, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a campaign of mass atrocities to achieve the religious and ethnic cleansing of religious minority groups in Iraq and Syria. In 2016, the U.S. State Department…
This report provides an overview of ISIS’s genocide and other crimes against Iraq’s religious minorities beginning in the summer 2014. ISIS used mass execution, forced conversion to Islam, abduction, rape, and slavery against Iraqi and Syrian Yazidis;…
Sep 30, 2024
USCIRF Releases New Report on Religious Freedom Challenges in Iraq 10 Years After ISIS’s Genocide
Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following new report:
Religious Freedom…
Mar 25, 2025
USCIRF Releases 2025 Annual ReportWashington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released its 2025 Annual Report. The report documents religious freedom conditions in 2024 and recommends policy…
Highlights from USCIRF’s 2025 Annual ReportNumbers-at-a-Glance16 countries recommended for “country of particular concern” (CPC) designation12 countries recommended for the State Department’s “Special Watch List” (SWL)7 entities recommended…
Since April 2023, the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have entrenched Sudan in a brutal civil war. Both sides have committed atrocities and human rights violations that have impacted Sudanese civilians. Religious freedom…