For Your Information

August 1, 2012| by Azizah al-Hibri and M. Zuhdi Jasser

The following op-ed article appeared in the Washington Post on August 1, 2012: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/guest-voices/post/ramadan-and-religious-freedom/2012/08/01/gJQA9HqBQX_blog.html

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), on which we serve, extends its warmest wishes to the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, nearly a quarter of its population, at the advent of  Ramadan, the most holy month in the Islamic calendar.

For your information:

July 31, 2012| by Katrina Lantos Swett and Robert P. George

The following op-ed article appeared in The Moscow Times on July 31, 2012: http://www.themoscowtimes.com/opinion/article/russias-failure-to-protect-freedom-of-religion/462957.html 

Has Russia truly changed its ways on human rights? Certainly its new law restricting public protests fuels grave and widespread concerns. Moreover, in at least one key area, religious freedom, Russia has not changed in many respects. This assessment should provoke serious discussion as the United States faces decisions about its relationship with its former Cold War foe.

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July 16, 2012 |  by Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed article appeared in The Hill publication July 16, 2012:

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/238199-us-should-pressure-nations-to-rescind-anti-ahmadiyya-laws

On June 27, along with members of Congress and other guests, I heard a message of peace and freedom from the Ahmadiyya world leader, His Holiness Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, at a Capitol Hill reception co-sponsored by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), of which I am chair, and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.

For Your Information

7/16/2012| By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed, Swett: Egyptian Tolerance Is Democracy Barometer, The Treatment of Coptic Christians and Other Religious Minorities Poses a Cause for Concern, appeared in Roll Call on July 16, 2012. 

Since its inception almost 15 years ago, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, on which I serve, has been deeply concerned about conditions for freedom of religion or belief in Egypt.

Among its concerns is the deteriorating status of Egypt’s religious minority communities, including its population of Coptic Christians.

For your information

July 3, 2012| By Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in Roll Call on July 3, 2012, 11:46 a.m..

As we prepare to celebrate our Declaration of Independence, we are reminded of its powerful proclamation of freedom.

Freedom includes many things, but at its core is the right to think as we please, believe or not believe as our conscience dictates and live out our convictions openly and peacefully. In other words, freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief is central to who we are.

For Your Information

July 3, 2012| by Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in Stars and Stripes on July 3, 2012 at www.stripes.com/honor-july-4-by-upholding-first-freedom-1.182008.

As we celebrate our Declaration of Independence, we are reminded of its powerful proclamation of freedom.

Freedom includes many things but, at its core, it is the right to think as we please, believe or not believe as our conscience dictates, and live out our convictions openly and peacefully. In other words, freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief is central to who we are.

May 23, 2012 | by Robert P. George

The following testimony appeared in the Cornell University International Affairs Review today.  For a link to the original, go to http://www.ciartest.diplomacist.org/?p=1766.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has testified before Congress on Vietnam numerous times over the past seven years.  Before each appearance, USCIRF had hoped to bring news of dramatic changes; greater respect for universal rights; lifting draconian controls over free expression, religion, and association; and the cessation of the silencing of dissent.  Sadly, the Commission cannot report such changes today.  In fact, Vietnam has been backsliding on human rights for the past several years and religious freedom conditions remain very poor and are deteriorating.

May 16, 2012 | by M. Zuhdi Jasser and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following op-ed appeared in The Hill today.  For a link to the original article, go to

http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/foreign-policy/227753-blasphemy-bans-threaten-arab-spring-religious-freedom.

Kuwait’s parliament has just passed draconian legal amendments that impose the death penalty on Muslims for blasphemy. The move to stiffen the penalty came after Hamad al-Naqi, a Shi’a Muslim, was arrested in March and taken into custody for allegedly cursing the Prophet Muhammad on Twitter.  The fate of the amendments and of Naqi rests in the hands of Kuwait’s emir.

May 15, 2012 | by Leonard A. Leo and Katrina Lantos Swett

The following essay appeared in the Columbia University Journal of International Affairs today.  For a link to the original article, go to http://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/religious-freedom-violations-south-asia .

In March of this year, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) issued its 2012 Annual Report to Congress and the executive branch, revealing the disturbing state of freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief abroad.[1] From laws curtailing or abrogating this universal right to acts of violence against religious adherents, the report confirmed how religious freedom is being violated in many areas of the world.[2]

Among these areas is South Asia. In Pakistan, for example, governmental violations of religious freedom, such as blasphemy laws, foster extremism by inciting hatred against dissenting religious groups, encouraging private actors to assault their members. In other countries, abuses against religious freedom have led the abused to reject governmental legitimacy and retaliate against it. Research strongly suggests that the protection of religious freedom is correlated with less conflict and is central to the lessening of violent religious extremism, the maintenance of security, the consolidation of democracy, and the advancement of socioeconomic progress.[3]

March 20, 2012 | by Leonard A. Leo, Felice D. Gaer and Tiffany Lynch 

The following essay appeared in World Affairs Journal today.  For a link to the original essay, go to http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/sudans-continuing-war-religious-freedom .
 
 

In July 2011, South Sudan became an independent country, six years after a peace agreement ended Khartoum’s 20-year war to impose on the South its extremist interpretation of Islam.
 

By any measure, independence was a victory for the universal human right to freedom of religion or belief. However, while South Sudan’s people are finally free of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s tyranny, those remaining under his rule are not. Bashir’s regime and Khartoum’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) continue to commit egregious human rights violations.

February 16, 2012 | by Felice D. Gaer and Richard D. Land

The following article appeared in the Des Moines Register yesterday.  For a link to the original article, go to

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20120216/OPINION01/302160023/Guest-columnists-China-s-leaders-must-honor-religious-freedoms.

Where is Gao Zhisheng?
 

When Vice President Xi Jinping, China’s future president, visited the White House this week, President Obama should have pressed him to reveal the whereabouts of China’s famed human rights and religious freedom attorney and other dissidents who have disappeared while in Chinese custody.