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July 09, 2019
On June 27, 2019, Vice Chair Nadine Maenza testified at a Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission hearing on violations of the right to freedom of religion of Christian communities around the world.Written Testimony
Hearing Webpage
April 04, 2014
USCIRF Vice Chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett testified on Friday, April 4 before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission during a hearing entitled, "The Plight of Religious Minorities in India."
Click here to view the full written testimony.
August 20, 2013
January 15, 2015
February 26, 2020
Click here to view the February 2020 Factsheet on The Citizenship (Amendment) Act in IndiaIn December 2019, the Indian Parliament passed into law the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA). This law provides a fast track to Indian citizenship for non-Muslim migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Quickly after the CAA’s passage, large scale protests broke out across India with the government instituting a violent crackdown against the protestors. In conjunction with a proposed nation-wide National Register of Citizens, there are fears that this law is part of an effort to create a religious test for Indian citizenship and could lead to the widespread disenfranchisement of Indian Muslims. This factsheet provides an overview of the CAA and explains why it represents a significant downward turn in religious freedom in India.
December 04, 2018
*** Notice of Event Postponement ***
USCIRF Hearing on Freedom of Religion or Belief in India Rescheduled Following USCIRF’s Annual Report Release in May 2019
Washington, DC - Due to an overwhelming response in interest on the topic of religious freedom in India by a wide variety of religious and civic organizations, USCIRF has announced the postponement of this Wednesday’s scheduled hearing in order to accommodate more participants and attendees.
Media inquiries may be addressed to kboyle@uscirf.gov.
Hearing:
Freedom of Religion or Belief in India: Rising Challenges & New Opportunities for U.S. Policy
Date: Wednesday, December 12, 10:00 AM
Location: Dirksen Senate Office Building – Room 562
Video will be live streamed here: https://youtu.be/L7NoHva8qxI
___________
Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a hearing that will explore the rising challenges to freedom of religion or belief in India and opportunities for U.S. policy to address these challenges.
India, a pluralistic, secular democracy with a long history of inclusivity through law, governance, and society, was among the original countries to adopt the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1979, expressing a commitment to protecting the right to freedom of religion or belief, including the “freedom [of the individual] to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.” Despite this, USCIRF has found that conditions for religious freedom have consistently deteriorated over the last decade—in recent years in 10 specific states, placing India on its Tier 2 (formerly Watch List) annually since 2009. In 2017, USCIRF found that public and private actors affiliated with Hindu nationalist groups regularly engaged in incidents of violence, intimidation, and harassment largely against Hindu Dalits, Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs. Anti-conversion and anti-cow slaughter laws were routinely used to discriminate against religious minorities or as a pretext for extrajudicial violence, and forced conversions of non-Hindus to Hinduism were reported. In addition, rules on the registration of foreign-funded nongovernmental organizations were used discriminatorily against religious minority groups. Based on current observation, these issues have continued in 2018.
India’s religious freedom challenges are being influenced by a rise in violent Hindu extremism. One key consequence has been the proliferation of hate speech and hate crimes, which in India primarily include incidents against religious and ethnic communities; in fact, India’s National Crime Record Bureau has publicly reported this uptick in hate crimes. This hearing will examine these issues while exploring new opportunities for U.S. policymakers to effectively encourage the protection of freedom of religion or belief in India.
The hearing will be open to members of Congress, congressional staff, the interested public and the media. For any questions, please call 202-523-3240. Please RSVP to Henry Young at hyoung@uscirf.gov.
Witnesses will be announced at a later date.
Hosted by:
Tenzin Dorjee Kristina Arriaga
Chair, USCIRF Vice Chair, USCIRF
Gayle Manchin Gary L. Bauer
Vice Chair, USCIRF Commissioner, USCIRF
Andy Khawaja Nadine Maenza
Commissioner, USCIRF Commissioner, USCIRF
Johnnie Moore Tony Perkins
Commissioner, USCIRF Commissioner, USCIRF
May 06, 2013
FOR YOUR INFORMATIONMay 6, 2013
Beyond Boko Haram: Nigeria's History of Violence
By: Tiffany Lynch for the Council on Foreign Relations - Posted on May 6
For almost two years, stories about violence in Nigeria have focused almost exclusively on Boko Haram's attacks on churches and Christians; police stations and other government buildings; schools and politicians; and Muslim critics. Forgotten is Nigeria"s longer and more deadly history of religiously-related violence. Too much of the analysis of Boko Haram fails to take into account how Nigeria's history of Muslim-Christian violence directly contributes to the Boko Haram phenomenon.
Since 1999, more than fourteen thousand Nigerians in the Middle Belt and north have been killed, hundreds of thousands displaced, and thousands of churches, mosques, and other property destroyed in Muslim and Christian communal violence. However, lack of political will and jurisdictional disputes to prosecute perpetrators of the violence means that almost universally, those and responsible for violence remain free. In more than a decade, fewer than 200 individuals have been prosecuted for their involvement in sectarian violence, despite available video and photographic evidence. Rather than prosecute, federal and state officials have repeatedly formed commissions of inquiry to review the causes of the violence and make recommendations to prevent further violence. But these recommendations are rarely implemented.
This failure to prosecute has created a climate of impunity with dangerous consequences. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), where I serve as senior policy analyst, has drawn attention to this in our recently released Annual Report on Nigeria . USCIRF found that a lack of consequences for violence gives a green light for future depredations. An incident sparking Muslim-Christian violence can trigger retaliatory ricochet riots in other areas.
Pour the gasoline of Boko Haram attacks onto this already burning fire and the consequences of religiously-related violence become even more dangerous. Boko Haram is using this culture of impunity as a recruitment tool -- young Muslim men, angered by the government's failure to address violence, respond to the call of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau call to attack Christians in "retaliation.” They are joining Boko Haram to attacks churches and individual Christians. In fact, many of Boko Haram's most deadly and prominent church service attacks in 2012 occurred in cities with problematic Muslim-Christian relations and histories of sectarian violence: Bauchi, Jos, and Kaduna.
Policy recommendations to tackle Boko Haram have focused on addressing political and economic marginalization in the north and ending abuses by security forces. Yet, the U.S. and Nigerian governments should focus on ending impunity and addressing Nigeria"s problem of Muslim-Christian violence. Boko Haram is feeding off of and fueling Nigeria"s history of religious related violence, adding momentum to an already vicious cycle. The United States needs to press its ally to do more, so this cycle is interrupted and perpetrators are brought to justice.
Tiffany Lynch is a Senior Policy Analyst at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The views expressed are her own and may or may not reflect the views of the Commission.
To reach USCIRF please send an email to media@uscirf.gov or contact the Commission at (202) 786-0613.
December 06, 2019
The full report may be found here.
For 20 years, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has monitored and evaluated religious freedom conditions in Nigeria. This year also marks 20 years since Nigeria’s return to democracy and the adoption of the 1999 Constitution, which outlines the federal system of government and the hybrid application of religious, customary, and civil laws. The Constitution provides that states shall have High Courts, and may also have Shari’ah and Customary courts of appeal where required. During the same time period, 12 northern Nigerian states have also re-integrated Islamic criminal law in various ways. While the Shari’ah laws are based on long-standing practices, receive widespread support from Muslims, and apply only to Muslims, state enforcement of religious laws presents serious challenges to fully respecting freedom of religion or belief.
December 10, 2018
The full report may be found here.Summary of Findings
The right to freely choose and change one’s religion is protected under international law, as is the right to manifest one’s beliefs through teaching those beliefs. While there is a right to propagate or proselytize, Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) also protects individuals from coercion that would impair their freedom to choose their religion or belief. The tension between the freedom to spread one’s beliefs and the freedom of others to not be coerced is at the heart of an alarming majoritarian trend in South Asia.
Over the last decade, governments across the South Asia region have taken legal measures to prohibit religious conversions from the dominant religious group. Often the motivation behind these laws, though not officially stated as such, is to protect the dominant religious tradition from a perceived threat from minority religious groups. The methods of preventing conversion vary: in India, several state legislatures have adopted laws limiting conversions away from Hinduism; in Pakistan, national blasphemy laws are used to criminalize attempts by non-Muslims to convert Muslims; and in India, Pakistan, and Nepal, governments are tightening their control over non-governmental organizations (NGOs), especially foreign missionary groups.
In some instances, especially in the aftermath of major natural disasters like Nepal’s 2015 earthquake and Sri Lanka’s 2004 tsunami, some proselytizing groups have upset majority sentiments by focusing their efforts on disenfranchised subgroups within the dominant religious tradition, such as Dalits (or Untouchables) in Hindu-majority countries. There have been accusations that some of these groups induce individuals to convert by predicating aid or food assistance on conversion of the recipient. Sensitivities are also heightened among the majority religious population over interfaith marriages or marriages predicated on the conversion of one spouse. Despite the persistence of these allegations, credible data has not been presented to demonstrate the extent and nature of these alleged coerced conversions. In fact, the National Investigation Agency in India in October 2018 closed an investigation of alleged “love jihad” and found that accusations of a Muslim plot to convert Hindu women were unfounded.
This report begins by presenting an overview of limitations faced by individuals in South Asia who want to convert away from the dominant religious tradition. Next, the report critically examines anti-conversion laws enacted by state governments in India and the central governments of Nepal and Sri Lanka. The next section looks at alternative methods used to criminalize conversions, including anti-blasphemy laws in Pakistan, discriminatory foreign NGO registration laws for faith-based groups, and limits on inter-faith marriages across the region. The report ends with some conclusions about the problems with these laws and provides recommendations for U.S. policy.
In summary, to address this distressing trend, the U.S. government must work with its allies in South Asia through regional capacity-building efforts and by applying pressure on governments to rescind laws that deny individuals the right to share and choose their religion freely.