US Commission on International Religious Freedom

The US has inexplicably removed Nigeria from its State Department list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC). To some, that may sound like innocuous paperwork or an ambassadorial feel-good gesture. But, in fact, this de-listing of Nigeria’s CPC designation is an outrageous betrayal of an already brutalized Christian community.

The Autonomous Administration for North and East Syria (AANES) is seeking international recognition as a legitimate government, but currently it is campaigning the US to lift sanctions on its territory.

This month the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a new report that documents religious freedom violations occurring in North Korea.

It is time for the US Commission on International Religious Freedom and the global religious freedom advocacy community to highlight the egregious religious freedom violations that result from Turkey’s restrictions on using the Kurdish language as part of religious services.

With the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist ideals, Muslims, Christians, and Dalits have been targets of increasing persecution at the hands of both the state and local mobs.

Christians in Nigeria and Ethiopia face nothing short of genocide. Religious and ethnic carnage have become an all-too-familiar reality in both countries, with no end in sight.

In a recent conversation led by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on the exodus of religious minority communities in Afghanistan, various scholars and leaders spoke on the current and anticipated plight of such groups, especially the Sikh and Hindu communities.

In today’s hyperpolarized environment, Beltway commentators and even think-tank scholars seem unable to resist the temptation to put a partisan twist on the most nonpartisan of causes. While some voices have attempted to politicize the issue of international religious freedom (IRF), the cause itself continues to attract wide bipartisan support.

In April, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan denounced the West, particularly France, and called for a coalition of Muslim countries to use economic power to force the West to pass blasphemy laws protecting Muslim sentiments.