USCIRF
China imposes sanctions on USCIRF officials over Xinjiang
By Associated Press — December 21, 2021
BEIJING (AP) — The tit-for-tat sanctions add to spiraling tension over Xinjiang.
The Senate needs to confirm Biden’s new international religious freedom ambassador now
By Knox Thames — November 18, 2021
(RNS) — The absence of a religious freedom ambassador left no strong advocate for this basic human right during recent debates at State.
Russia added to State Department list of worst religious liberty violators
By Adelle M. Banks — November 17, 2021
(RNS) — Blinken said the Biden administration supports ‘every individual’s right to freedom of religion or belief, including by confronting and combating violators and abusers of this human right.’
Confirming Rashad Hussain would show that religious freedom is a cause that unites us
By Robert P. George and David Saperstein — October 26, 2021
(RNS) — No ambassador has brought a broader knowledge of policy to the post.
Why the Senate must fast-track Biden’s nominee on religious freedom
By David Curry — October 13, 2021
(Open Doors) — While Rashad Hussain’s confirmation waits, millions are persecuted for their faith.
White House announces new religious affairs leaders, first Muslim religious freedom ambassador
By Jack Jenkins, Kathryn Post, and Joseph Hammond — July 30, 2021
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Biden will nominate Rashad Hussain, who served in other roles under the Obama administration, as his U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.
Russia, China, Myanmar recommended for State Department list of religious freedom violators
By Adelle M. Banks — April 21, 2021
(RNS) — The U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom highlighted atrocities against Rohingya Muslims by Myanmar’s military, persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses by Russia’s government and China’s detention of millions of Uighurs and other Muslims.
Nigeria’s blasphemy laws are the religious freedom crisis no one is talking about
By Frederick A. Davie and Tony Perkins — February 5, 2021
(RNS) — The United States needs to incentivize the Nigerian government to uphold religious freedoms enshrined in the West African country's constitution.
State Department adds Nigeria to list of most serious religious freedom violators
By Adelle M. Banks — December 9, 2020
(RNS) — The State Department redesignated nine other nations as ‘countries of particular concern’: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Uighur activists celebrate religious freedom agency’s first Uighur commissioner
By Aysha Khan — May 26, 2020
(RNS) — Uighur activists say lawyer Nury Turkel’s appointment to USCIRF is a clear signal to the Chinese government that the U.S. government will not tolerate human rights violations in Xinjiang.
Citizenship laws threaten India’s Muslims, hurt minorities elsewhere, panel says
By Adelle M. Banks — March 5, 2020
WASHINGTON (RNS) — ‘The fear of losing citizenship is genuine,’ said Aman Wadud, who defends accused illegal migrants and detainees in the northeastern state of Assam.
Trump poses a challenge for the US religious freedom commission
By Mark Silk — February 28, 2020
(RNS) — Trump supporters on the panel can't seem to muster criticism for the president's strongman allies.
McCarrick gifts for bosses expose flaws of Vatican practice
By Thomas Reese — January 2, 2020
(RNS) — Gifts that Theodore McCarrick made to Vatican officials raise questions about whether the donations were buying access or protection.
Religious freedom agency reauthorized with Trump’s signature
By Adelle M. Banks — December 20, 2019
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The agency, created in 1998, had faced a range of controversies in the months leading up to the reauthorization.
Religious freedom watchdog, facing recent controversy, awaits reauthorization
By Adelle M. Banks — December 18, 2019
WASHINGTON (RNS) — USCIRF Chair Tony Perkins told Religion News Service that the commissioners are satisfied with the current proposed language but all of them considered the earlier proposal to be 'very problematic.'
