Iraq’s diverse religious communities face ongoing challenges more than 10 years after the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) waged genocide against many of them. The federal and Kurdistan regional governments have improved some FoRB conditions, but their failure to curb the growing power of Iran-affiliated militias and other malign actors is the single largest threat to those communities’ security and existence in the country.

Source: Iraqi Yazidis light candles and paraffin torches during a ceremony to celebrate the Yazidi New Year at Lalish temple in Shekhan District in Duhok, REUTERS / Jalal

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USCIRF Releases 2025 Annual Report

USCIRF Releases Report on Religious Freedom Challenges in Iraq 10 Years After ISIS’s Genocide

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

USCIRF Solemnly Commemorates the Tenth Anniversary of ISIS’s Genocide Against Iraqi and Syrian Religious Minorities

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USCIRF Releases 2025 Annual Report

USCIRF Releases Report on Religious Freedom Challenges in Iraq 10 Years After ISIS’s Genocide

USCIRF Solemnly Commemorates the Tenth Anniversary of ISIS’s Genocide Against Iraqi and Syrian Religious Minorities

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Washington Examiner: Agony of Yazidis extends to sixth anniversary of their genocide

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Remarks by USCIRF Chair Katrina Lantos Swett, 2013 Annual Report, National Endowment for Democracy

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Religious Freedom Challenges in Iraq 10 Years after ISIS’s Genocide

Anti-Conversion Laws Compendium

25th Anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act

Iraq Country Update

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Testimony of Vice Chair Maenza on Global Persecution of Christians

Testimony of USCIRF Chairman Robert P. George on "Confronting the Genocide of Religious Minorities: A Way Forward"

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