Parhaat Uscirf Podcastit (2024)

1
The US-UK Special Relationship: FoRB in Focus 22:40

1M ago22:40

22:40

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck joins Senior Strategic Advisor Elizabeth Cassidy to reflect on his trip to the United Kingdom. Marked by a special relationship, the United States, and the United Kingdom, aim to place a special focus on international religious freedom. Chair Schneck discusses USCIRF’s…

1
Responses to Genocide: Two Former U.S. Officials Reflect on ISIS’s Genocide in Iraq and Syria 33:32

5M ago33:32

33:32

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 determined ISIS’s atrocities against Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’a Muslims constituted crimes against human…

1
10 Years On: Ongoing Threats to Religious Minority Survivors of ISIS’s Genocide 28:28

5M ago28:28

28:28

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, Shabaks, and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria. In 2016, the U.S. State Department determined ISIS…

1
The Religious Garb Ban that Undermines the Olympic Spirit 20:21

5M ago20:21

20:21

The French government has prohibited French athletes from wearing religious garb while competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics. As such, French athletes who wish to wear religious garb are forced to choose between adhering to their sincerely held religious beliefs and competing at the highest level of sport. This tight regulation of religious expressi…

1
USCIRF's Spirit of Bipartisanship 17:37

6M ago17:37

17:37

In 1998, Republicans and Democrats came together to pass the International Religious Freedom Act, creating USCIRF as an independent government Commission led by a bipartisan group of nine Commissioners appointed by both political party leaders in Congress, and by the president. Twenty-five years later, USCIRF’s Commissioners continue to lead the no…

1
Shortcomings of the State Department’s CPC Designations 31:16

11M ago31:16

31:16

One of USCIRF’s key functions is to make recommendations to the State Department about which countries we think should be designated as Countries of Particular Concern or CPCs, based on our independent research and analysis. Every year we await the State Department’s announcement of its religious freedom designations to assess how they match up wit…

1
Violence Against Tribal Christians in Manipur, India 15:17

1+ y ago15:17

15:17

In May 2023, violent clashes between two communities erupted in India’s Manipur state, leaving entire villages burned and displacing tens of thousands. The ongoing conflict is between the state’s majority Hindu Meitei community and the Christian Kuki population and has seen the direct targeting of religious symbols and places of worship and refuge.…

1
The State of Religious Freedom in Algeria 16:31

2y ago16:31

16:31

In recent years USCIRF has reported that religious freedom conditions in Algeria have continued to deteriorate with the government increasingly enforcing blasphemy laws and restricting worship. These laws particularly impact religious minorities, such as Protestant Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims. In 2022, the U.S. Department of State placed Alger…

1
USCIRF’s FoRB Victims List: Background and 2022 Updates 13:46

2y ago13:46

13:46

In 2016, Congress passed the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act which mandated that USCIRF maintain a list of individuals targeted for their religion or belief. In 2019, USCIRF launched its Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Victims List – an online database that catalogues persons detained, imprisoned, placed under house arrest, d…

1
State Favored Religions’ Impact on Religious Freedom 22:18

2y ago22:18

22:18

Governments around the world use many different strategies to control or repress religion, but a common tactic is for the state to elevate a particular religion to a special status in ways that can marginalize different faiths or belief systems. USCIRF’s recently released report, “A Global Overview of Official and Favored Religions and Global Impli…

1
Differences Between Religious Tolerance and Religious Freedom 22:52

2y ago22:52

22:52

Authoritarian states promote religious tolerance without necessarily ensuring freedom of religion or belief. Last month, USCIRF released a report distinguishing between these two concepts and explains the origins of religious tolerance promotion as a tool of statecraft. The report presents case studies of countries engaged in religious tolerance pr…

1
Breaking Down the State Department’s IRF Designations 16:20

2y ago16:20

16:20

Pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the U.S. Department of State designates Countries of Particular Concern, places countries on its Special Watch List, and designates Entities of Particular Concern. As part of this mandate, USCIRF makes recommendations to the administration, including the State Department, regarding which …

1
Reflecting on USCIRF’s Visit to Cox’s Bazar 26:13

2y ago26:13

26:13

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 religious persecution to neighboring Bangladesh. However, the most recent waves of refugees came in August 2017 f…

1
Preview of the IRF Summit 2023 29:03

2y ago29:03

29:03

The third annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit will be held in Washington, DC on January 31-February 1, 2023. The IRF Summit is an annual civil society conference that seeks to create a coalition of organizations to work together to advance international religious freedom, raise public awareness about IRF issues, and increase the pol…

1
The Alevi Struggle for Rights in Turkey 28:36

2y ago28:36

28:36

Alevis constitute the largest religious minority in Turkey and have faced persistent obstacles to the exercise of their religious freedom. In October 2022, the Turkish government announced its plan to create a new state-run Alevi institution—the Alevi Bektashi Culture and Cemevi Directorate—which officials say will oversee and address issues faced …

1
The Suffocating Hold of HTS on Northwest Syria 26:09

2y ago26:09

26:09

More than a decade after the onset of Syria’s civil war, the conflict continues with multiple state and non-state actors vying for power. Today, one of the most notable non-state actors is the militant Islamist rebel group and former al-Qaeda affiliate Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Although President Bashar al-Assad has regained control of about 70%…

1
The Persecution of Muslims in Tajikistan 24:24

2y ago24:24

24:24

Tajikistan’s population is majority Sunni Muslim, with a small Shi’a Muslim community which primarily consists of ethnic Pamiris located in the mountainous eastern part of the country known as the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). The latest crackdown on civil society in the GBAO followed protests initially sparked in mid-May of this year.…

1
Recovering from Genocide: The Yazidis’ Return to Sinjar 41:06

2y ago41:06

41:06

Since 2014, when ISIS launched its genocidal campaign against the Yazidis—a minority ethno-religious group within the Kurdish-majority areas of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey, as well as in Armenia–hundreds of thousands of Yazidis have been displaced from their native home in the Sinjar region of Iraq. The U.S. government remains deeply invested in h…

1
Civil Society’s Important Role in Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief 34:57

2y ago34:57

34:57

To commemorate this year’s International Religious Freedom Day and the 24th Anniversary of the enactment of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998, USCIRF reflects on the important role civil society plays in promoting freedom of religion or belief abroad. Greg Mitchell, Co-Chair of the IRF Roundtable, joins Elizabeth Cassidy, Director of …

1
The Legacy of Blasphemy Laws in Southeast Asia 12:21

2y ago12:21

12:21

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 region and highlights recent cases and provides analysis on related laws. Blasphemy is defined as “the act of…

1
Russia’s Persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses 20:32

2y ago20:32

20:32

In April 2017, the Russian Federation banned Jehovah’s Witnesses as an “extremist” organization. In the five years since that designation, law enforcement authorities across Russia have made it a regular practice to raid, detain, and arrest Jehovah’s Witnesses on “extremism” charges directly related to their peaceful religious activities. According…

1
The Nexus of Religious Freedom & Women’s Rights in Iran 30:36

2y ago30:36

30:36

On September 16th, Iran’s morality police arrested 22-year old Mahsa Amini for wearing improper hijab. The morality police reportedly beat Amini until she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and a stroke. Upon learning of her death days later at a hospital in Tehran, Iranians across the country took to the streets in protest of the government’s brutal r…

1
Turkmenistan’s Tight Grip on Religious Freedom 20:49

2+ y ago20:49

20:49

Since 2014, the U.S. Department of State has designated Turkmenistan as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC), for its systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations. After Turkmenistan’s President stepped down in March of 2022, his son, Serdar Berdimuhamedov, came to power. Despite hopes of a loosening of these highly restrictiv…

1
Religious Prisoners of Conscience in Kazakhstan 28:22

2+ y ago28:22

28:22

In 2018, Kazakhstan arrested a group of men for participating in a WhatsApp group chat about Islam and sentenced them to multiple years in prison on fictitious terrorism and incitement-related charges. Last fall, the UN Working Group issued an opinion that their detention was arbitrary and that they should be released. Although the government of Ka…

1
Deteriorating Religious Freedom Conditions in Nicaragua 18:04

2+ y ago18:04

18:04

Since 2020, USCIRF has recommended that Nicaragua be included on the State Department’s Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom. In 2022, the Nicaraguan government has greatly intensified its oppression of the Catholic Church. Last month, USCIRF released a Country Update on Nicaragua, which highlighted the persecution of the c…

1
The Plight of Christians in China 24:08

2+ y ago24:08

24:08

In its 2022 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended the U.S. Department of State redesignate China as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) for engaging in systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. While the U.S. government designated the Chinese government’s ongoing atrocities against Uyghurs as genocide, China continues to s…

1
The 5th Anniversary of the Rohingya Genocide 20:23

2+ y ago20:23

20:23

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 displaced, and millions dispersed throughout the region. On March 21, 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the U.S. …

1
Troubling Signs of Religious Freedom in Sri Lanka 25:54

2+ y ago25:54

25:54

Sri Lanka is an ethnically and religiously diverse country but has had a history of intercommunal violence, most recently heightened in the decade following the end of a civil war in 2009. Conflict among the various ethnic and religious groups has remained at a heightened level in recent years impacting political, social, and economic life in the c…

1
The Impact of Malaysia’s Dual Legal System on Religious Freedom 19:00

2+ y ago19:00

19:00

Malaysia maintains a unique dual legal system divided into civil and religious courts. In recent decades, the influence of these religious courts, which are based on the Shaf’i school of Sunni Islamic jurisprudence, have grown, adversely impacting religious freedom. Since 2014, USCIRF has been reporting on Malaysia and most recently in 2022 recomme…

1
Russia’s Religious Freedom Violations in Ukraine 22:21

2+ y ago22:21

22:21

In February 2022, Russia launched a full-scale and unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine, falsely claiming that it aimed to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country. While many people are broadly aware of the terrible toll that Russia’s war has wrought on civilians, there is less awareness about the religious ramifications of the Russian invasio…

1
U.S. Policy Advances for International Religious Freedom Over the Past Year 24:05

2+ y ago24:05

24:05

USCIRF is mandated by Congress to make independent policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress that would help improve religious freedom around the globe. Each year, USCIRF proposes these recommendations in its annual report, highlighting country conditions and thematic challenges. How often are these recommendations a…

1
Deteriorating Religious Freedom Conditions in South Asia 18:46

2+ y ago18:46

18:46

Several major political events occurred in South Asia over the last year. The Taliban, whom USCIRF has recommended for years as an “Entity of Particular Concern” (EPC), took control of Afghanistan in August 2021. In April 2022, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office following political turmoil. And religious nationalist policie…

1
Religious Freedom Takeaways on the Ground in Nigeria 25:07

2+ y ago25:07

25:07

Last month, USCIRF traveled to Abuja, Nigeria and met with Nigerian and U.S. government officials, religious communities, civil society representatives, and human rights defenders to assess religious freedom conditions and discuss threats facing Nigerians of a range of faiths and worldviews. The trip came following the U.S. State Department’s Novem…

1
Conditions for Religious and Nonbelief Communities in Turkey 15:16

2+ y ago15:16

15:16

This past spring, USCIRF staff traveled to Turkey and met with religious and nonbelief communities across the country. Numerous issues continue to negatively impact their freedom of religion or belief, including an inability to train clergy, mandatory religion classes, the threat of blasphemy charges, and other forms of discrimination. USCIRF has m…

1
Preview of the 2022 International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief 25:08

2+ y ago25:08

25:08

On July 5 and 6, the British government will be hosting the 2022 International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in London. The conference will bring together government, civil society, faith, and belief groups to agree on action to prevent FoRB violations and abuses and offer ways to protect and promote religious freed…

1
Preview of the IRF Summit 2022 18:41

2+ y ago18:41

18:41

Next week, from June 28 to June 30, the second annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit will be held in Washington, DC. The IRF Summit brings together a diverse coalition of NGOs and individuals from all over the world committed to the fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief and aims to increase public awareness and political …

1
Religious Freedom Backslides in Central African Republic 19:22

2+ y ago19:22

19:22

USCIRF began monitoring religious freedom conditions in Central African Republic (CAR) in 2013 when the country descended into civil conflict. After seven years of recommending that CAR be designated a country of particular concern, in 2020 USCIRF recommended CAR for Special Watchlist status due to improvements in the situation on the ground—and th…

1
Religious Prisoners of Conscience in Iran 17:55

2+ y ago17:55

17:55

Iran has gone to great lengths to arrest and detain religious minorities, including Christians, Baha’is, Sunni Muslims, Sufis, and spiritualists. The Iranian government has taken it a step further and also targeted those who peacefully dissent from the government’s preferred religious views, particularly women, nontheists, and members of the LGBTI …

1
Uzbekistan: Gaps in Principles and Practice 17:26

2+ y ago17:26

17:26

Uzbekistan is one of a handful of countries that has seen dramatic improvements for religious freedom in recent years; however, religious communities are still experiencing high levels of government regulation and repression that is continuing to impact their ability to exercise their freedom of religion or belief. In April 2022, USCIRF sent a dele…

1
Treatment of Asylum Seekers in the Expedited Removal Process 22:26

2+ y ago22:26

22:26

Expedited Removal is the U.S. immigration law process that allows officers in the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, to quickly deport noncitizens who arrive at U.S. ports of entry or cross the border without proper documents, unless the noncitizen can establish a “credible fear” of persecution or torture. Since the beginning of the coronavir…

1
Content Moderation Online and its Impact on Religious Freedom 26:51

2+ y ago26:51

26:51

To combat the human rights and religious freedom violations that have occurred as a result of online hate speech, some social media companies now regulate speech on their platforms. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms often have rules that ban certain types of speech—including hate speech directed at religious communities. …

1
Anti-Conversion Laws and Growing Intolerance in India 24:46

2+ y ago24:46

24:46

Since 2020, USCIRF has recommended that India be designated a Country of Particular of Concern, or CPC, due to the Indian government’s promotion of Hindu nationalism, and engagement and facilitation of systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. The othering of those that are non-Hindu through the misuse of national and stat…

1
USCIRF Releases 2022 Annual Report with Recommendations for U.S. Policy 17:40

2+ y ago17:40

17:40

On April 25, 2022, USCIRF released its 2022 Annual Report, which documents developments in international religious freedom from 2021. The report provides recommendations to enhance the U.S. government’s promotion of freedom of religion or belief abroad. This year’s report highlights significant regress in countries such as Afghanistan and the Centr…

1
Persecuted Christians Around the World 21:04

2+ y ago21:04

21:04

According to the Pew Research Center’s most recent global data, Christianity’s diverse set of traditions comprise the single largest religious group on earth, of some 2.3 billion people—or nearly a third of the world’s population. Yet, it has been plainly evident throughout our reporting at USCIRF that many Christian communities around the world fa…

1
Nontheists Facing Challenges to Freedom of Belief 24:32

2+ y ago24:32

24:32

Article 18 of both the United Nations Human Rights Charter and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights protects not only the right to believe in and practice a religion and to change religion, but also the right to hold nontheistic beliefs. Despite these protections, many members of nonreligious communities’ face government repress…

1
Rohingya Genocide Determination and Accountability 21:18

2+ y ago21:18

21:18

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 in February 2021, the Tatmadaw have employed similar tactics used on the Rohingya against all ethnic and religious communities, as we ha…

1
The Status of Religious Freedom for the Baha’i Community 22:59

3y ago22:59

22:59

Founded in 19th century Persia—present day Iran—the Baha’i faith is the second most widespread religion in the world and has communities in most territories and countries across the globe. However, several governments in the Middle East and North Africa region engage in systematic oppression of Baha’is. Iran, Yemen, Qatar, and Tunisia are some of t…

1
Implications of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Part 2: The Religious Regulation Framework 29:06

3y ago29:06

29:06

*Special note: This podcast was recorded on March 8, 2022 and only reflects the events that have occurred up to this date* The Russian government has long used religious freedom violations in its efforts to discourage non-conformity and facilitate its brutal occupation of Crimea and the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine. In 2016, the government adop…

1
Implications of Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Part 1: The “Denazification” Narrative 19:52

3y ago19:52

19:52

*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 inva…

1
Iraq’s Beleaguered Religious Minority Communities 15:59

3y ago15:59

15:59

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—includ…

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