USCIRF Spotlight Podcast

*Special note: This podcast was recorded on March 3, 2022 and only reflects the events that have occurred up to this date*   The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has shocked the world and created a humanitarian crisis with profound effects for the region and beyond. Among the reasons Russian President Vladimir Putin has listed to justify this invasion is that the operation will “seek to demilit...

Many of the religious communities that call Iraq home have suffered from conflict and displacement in recent decades. The civil war in Iraq in the 2000s led large numbers of Christians and other small religious groups to flee the country. Between 2014 and 2019, many religious communities in the north suffered horrifying atrocities under ISIS—including what the United States in 2016 formally declar...

Several Western governments joined the U.S. in diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics amid the outcry over China’s human rights and religious freedom abuses. Nevertheless, the lack of international solidarity on this issue is apparent. The International Olympics Committee (IOC) has been noticeably muted on the issue. Several U.S. companies like Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Visa, and Procter & Gamble...

The government of Nicaragua, under the leadership of President Daniel Ortega, has a history of persecuting Catholic clergy, worshipers, and organizations as well as Protestant institutions especially since religious leaders provided sanctuary and support to civic protesters in 2018. The runup to Nicaragua’s general elections in November 2021 provided yet another backdrop for religious freedom viol...

The situation for the Christian community in Afghanistan has grown ever more perilous since the Taliban took control of the country in August 2021. There have been accounts of the Taliban going door to door seeking out Afghans who practice other faiths and beliefs than the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Sunni Islam. Christian converts in Afghanistan also report receiving threatening phone call...

Across central and eastern Africa there are many dynamics at play, including political crises and violent insurgencies, both of which pose challenges to freedom of religion or belief. These trends and developments are especially concerning in countries such as Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda, and Kenya. USCIRF Policy Analysts Mohy Omer and Madeline Vellturo join us to elab...

The continued systematic enforcement of blasphemy and anti-Ahmadiyya laws have resulted in the discrimination and persecution of religious minority communities. In 2021 alone, there have been several examples of mob violence, targeted killings, and the desecration of graves and houses of worship. These laws have enabled and encouraged Islamist extremists to operate with impunity, easily targeting...

Pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), the State Department is required to issue annual designations for the most egregious violators of religious freedom. In advance of these designations, USCIRF recommends in its Annual Report each year the countries the State Department should designate as such. The State Department issued its latest list of Countries of Particular...

Religious freedom conditions in Turkey continue to follow a disappointing, negative trajectory. The Hagia Sophia conversion, the continued closure of the Halki Seminary, government meddling in the internal affairs of religious minority communities, concerns about the education curriculum, hate speech, and Turkey’s intervention in northern Syria and Iraq are just some of the major threats to religi...

From 1992-1995, Bosnia endured a brutal ethno-religious war, as Bosnian Serbs ethnically cleansed their Muslim neighbors in the east of the country. The 1995 Dayton Accords, brokered by the United States, ended the conflict, and created a unique power-sharing arrangement between predominantly Orthodox Christian Serbs, Muslim Bosniaks, and Catholic Croats. This fragile arrangement now appears to be...

Last month, we released a new report titled “Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners: Addressing a Legacy of Repression.” The report estimates that more than 2,000 individuals remain imprisoned by the Uzbekistan government for peacefully practicing their religious beliefs, and documents the cases of 81 specific prisoners, many of whom are serving some of the longest politically-motivated ja...

The United Nations marks November 16 each year as the International Day for Tolerance. Religious tolerance is one key component of tolerance overall. Governments in the Middle East have increasingly espoused a doctrine of religious tolerance, especially after September 11, 2001. Along the same lines, the U.S. government has encouraged greater tolerance abroad as an antidote to extremism, especiall...

Malaysia has experienced unprecedented political instability in recent years. During this time, Malaysian authorities from various political parties in several states and the federal government have continued to pursue policies to further restrict religious freedom. Furthermore, while Malaysia’s dual justice system supposedly places the civil court above Shari’a law, it also devolves the ability t...

In recent years, Algerian authorities have shown more hostility towards religious minorities, forcibly closing dozens of Protestant churches and prosecuting Ahmadiyya Muslims for gathering without authorization for the purposes of worship. Algerian courts are also increasingly enforcing Algeria’s blasphemy and anti-proselytization laws, targeting Christians, Muslims, and free thinkers.  USCIRF rec...

USCIRF is deeply concerned about religious freedom conditions in the Russian Federation, which have rapidly deteriorated in recent years as the government increasingly mistreats “traditional” religious communities, and targets Jehovah’s Witnesses, with baseless ‘extremism’ charges, and uses unsubstantiated accusations of ‘terrorism’ to imprison Crimean Muslim activists opposed to its illegal annex...

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community was founded in 1889 in Punjab, India and today has an estimated tens of millions of members globally. Because of the differences between Ahmadiyya beliefs and beliefs in Sunni and Shi’a Islam, many Muslims consider Ahmadiyya Muslims to be heretics. Some governments that regulate the practice of Islam deem Ahmadiyya Muslims as “non-Muslims” and place legal restriction...

Cemeteries are sacred sites that are of great spiritual, cultural, and historical significance to many religious and ethnic groups. These holy sites are governed by religious laws and customs that dictate the location of, the appearance of, and the activities and behaviors allowed on the burial grounds. Despite laws aimed to protect these sites, cemeteries around the world catering to a variety of...

Saudi Arabia has made some reforms to select polices impacting religious freedom, including improvements to its textbooks. Nevertheless, there are still several deeply rooted issues that undermine the credibility of its claims to be undertaking serious reform: non-Muslim communities may not construct houses of worship; Shi’a Muslims in Saudi Arabia still face systematic discrimination; religious d...

For many years, USCIRF has been deeply concerned about religious freedom conditions in Central Asia, and more recently the impact of the Taliban’s rise to power in Afghanistan on the surrounding region. Since 2012, USCIRF has recommended that the State Department designate Tajikistan a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), in response to the government’s increasing repression following the passage...

Since 2009, USCIRF has recommended that the U.S. State Department designate Nigeria a country of particular concern, or CPC, for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations. In December 2020, the State Department designated Nigeria for the first time, making Nigeria the first secular democracy to be added to the CPC list. As we approach the end of 2021 and anticipate th...

When Afghanistan was under Taliban control in 1996-2001, the Taliban discriminated against and violently persecuted the Hazara Shi’a community—which they labeled as “heretical.” Subsequently, the Hazara community continued to face targeted attacks over the last 20 years by the Taliban and ISIS-K. In the first half of 2021 alone, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan documented at le...

Islam plays a significant role in Africa’s past and present, with at least 500 million Muslims living in Africa today. While many Muslims in Africa practice their faith in peace and harmony, across the region some Muslim communities have been denied their right to freedom of religion or belief by both governments and nonstate actors. Given the important role that Islamic traditions and practice pl...

For the past two years, USCIRF has recommended that India be designated a Country of Particular of Concern (CPC) by the State Department due the government’s promotion of Hindu nationalist policies resulting in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. One such policy is the 2019 passage of the discriminatory Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA)—a fast track to citizenship f...

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 for Myanmar has documented instances of Burmese military units involved in indiscriminate killings of civilians, mass rape, and arbitrary detentions. This year, the situation has only fu...

We have seen a significant deterioration in religious freedom conditions in South Asia in recent years. Blasphemy cases, forced conversions, attacks on houses of worship, hate speech, and violence targeting religious minorities are among the long list of religious freedom concerns in the region—particularly in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Farahnaz Ispahani joins us to e...