Sep 30, 2024

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

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released the following new report:

Religious Freedom Challenges in Iraq 10 Years after ISIS’s Genocide – This report provides an overview of ISIS’s genocide and other crimes against Iraq’s religious minorities beginning in the summer 2014. ISIS used mass execution, forced conversion to Islam, abduction, rape, and slavery against Iraqi and Syrian Yazidis; Assyrian-Syriac-Chaldean and other Christians; Shi’a Muslims of a variety of ethnic backgrounds, such as Shabaks, Turkmens, Arabs, and Kurds; and other religious groups. The report highlights ongoing religious freedom challenges facing these communities 10 years later and identifies ways the United States can encourage Iraq’s federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to improve religious minority groups’ security and freedom of religion or belief today.

In its 2024 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State include Iraq on its Special Watch List (SWL) for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act. USCIRF has consistently highlighted the ongoing aftereffects of ISIS’s genocide. In December 2023, the Commission held a hearing on Religious Minorities and Governance in Iraq. In August 2024, on the tenth anniversary of ISIS’s launch of the genocide, a USCIRF Spotlight podcast series featured religious minority genocide survivors and former U.S. officials.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity established by the U.S. Congress to monitor, analyze, and report on religious freedom abroad. USCIRF makes foreign policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress intended to deter religious persecution and promote freedom of religion and belief. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected].