WASHINGTON, D.C. – Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 7 signed into law a package of anti-terrorism measures the Russian State Duma passed in late June.  The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns these measures.  Under the guise of confronting terrorism, they would grant authorities sweeping powers to curtail civil liberties, including setting broad restrictions on religious practices that would make it very difficult for religious groups to operate. On June 23, President Putin signed into law yet another problematic measure: It authorizes the police to arrest people suspected of violating “generally accepted norms of social behavior,” thereby giving authorities another weapon to use against disfavored groups, including religious organizations. 

“These deeply flawed anti-terrorism measures will buttress the Russian government’s war against human rights and religious freedom,” said USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J. “They will make it easier for Russian authorities to repress religious communities, stifle peaceful dissent, and detain and imprison people. Neither these measures nor the currently existing anti-extremism law meet international human rights and religious freedom standards.”

The anti-terrorism measures would, among other provisions, amend the 1997 Russian religion law by redefining “missionary activities” as religious practices that take place outside of state-sanctioned sites. The new law thus would ban preaching, praying, proselytizing, and disseminating religious materials outside of these officially-designated sites, and authorize fines of up to $15,000 for these activities conducted in private residences or distributed through mass print, broadcast or online media.  Foreign missionaries also must prove they were invited by state-registered religious groups and must operate only in regions where their sponsoring organizations are registered; those found in violation face deportation and major fines. 

The Russian government uses its current anti-extremism law to target religious communities because the legal definition of extremism does not require the threat or use of violence.  “Extremism” charges can include the peaceful promotion of “the superiority of one’s own religion,” and have resulted in religious texts being banned and members of non-violent Muslims groups and Jehovah’s Witnesses imprisoned.  The proposed anti-terrorism measures would increase prison terms under the current extremism law.  

USCIRF placed Russia on its Tier 2 list in its 2016 Annual Report. In Tier 2 countries, the violations the government engages in or tolerates are serious and characterized by at least one of the elements of IRFA’s “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” standard. For more information, please refer to the Russia chapter in USCIRF’s 2016 Report (in English and in Russian).

To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0615.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As Muslims around the world mark the end of Ramadan with Eid al-Fitr celebrations, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly condemns the Chinese government’s restrictions on Uighur and other Muslims’ religious practices.  These restrictions are particularly egregious during this month-long period of introspection, fasting, prayer, and devotion.

“The Chinese government once again has banned government employees, students, and children from fasting, and in some cases praying, during Ramadan,” said USCIRF Chair Thomas J. Reese, S.J.  “While restrictions on Uighur Muslims’ religious practices take place year round, they are particularly onerous during Ramadan, giving lie to the government’s claim that Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang enjoy religious freedom.  They do not.  The Chinese government is violating its own constitution and international human rights standards by denying religious freedom to its citizens.” 

The government imposed Ramadan restrictions this year after it issued a June white paper, Freedom of Religious Belief in Xinjiang, that highlights the supposed religious freedom experienced by people of the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, where the majority of China’s Uighur Muslim population lives. The paper alleges that the government protects “normal” religious activities and respects citizens’ religious needs and customs. 

Rather than recognize that the vast majority of Uighur Muslims peacefully practice their faith, Chinese regional and central governments treat the entire Uighur community as potential violent terrorists whose “extreme religious activities” must be monitored, controlled, and restricted. 

To these ends, local authorities throughout the year seek to ban any visible Islamic expression, including men’s beards and women’s face-covering veils, and prohibit children under 18 from practicing any religion.  Authorities also regularly surveil mosques and harass religious adherents. 

The government’s crackdown since 2009 on religious activities and expression in Xinjiang has led to the detention and deaths of hundreds of Uighur Muslims, fueling resentment and the very extremism the government claims it is trying to quell.

For more information, please see USCIRF’s China chapter in the 2016 Annual Report (in English and Chinese).  See also the following press release about Professor Ilham Tohti’s life sentence: USCIRF Calls on the Release of Ilham Tohti and other Prisoners of Conscience.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0615.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rev. Thomas J. Reese, S.J., was elected on June 21, 2016, as Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). President Obama appointed Father Reese to the Commission on May 15, 2014, and reappointed him on May 12, 2016.

“I am honored to serve as USCIRF’s Chair and work with my fellow Commissioners in support of freedom of religion or belief,” said Father Reese. “World events underscore the importance of this fundamental right:  A key factor in many of the United States’ foreign policy challenges, religious freedom is under serious and sustained attack across much of the globe. As an independent, bipartisan federal government commission, USCIRF provides recommendations to help the President, Secretary of State, and Congress protect and advance this precious freedom.”  

Father Reese is a Senior Analyst for the National Catholic Reporter, a position he has held since 2014.  Previously, he was a Senior Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center from 2006 to 2013 and from 1988 to 1998, and also served as the Editor-in-Chief of America magazine from 1998 to 2005 and an associate editor from 1978 to 1985. Father Reese entered the Jesuits in 1962 and was ordained in 1974.  He is the author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church. He received a B.A. and an M.A. from St. Louis University, an M.Div. from the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. 

Also on June 21, two USCIRF Commissioners were elected Vice-Chairs: Dr. Daniel Mark and Dr. James J. Zogby.  Speaker of the House Paul Ryan reappointed Dr. Mark on May 16, 2016, and President Barack Obama reappointed Dr. Zogby on May 14, 2015. 

Dr. Daniel Mark is an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University and the battalion professor of Villanova's Navy ROTC unit.  For the 2015-16 academic year, Dr. Mark is on sabbatical as a visiting fellow in the Department of Politics at Princeton University under the sponsorship of the department’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.

Dr. James J. Zogby is the founder and president of the Arab American Institute (AAI), a Washington, D.C.-based organization which serves as the political and policy research arm of the Arab American community.  He is also Managing Director of Zogby Research Services, which specializes in public opinion polling across the Arab world.

Also serving on the Commission are: Kristina Arriaga, Sandra Jolley, Dr. John Ruskay, and Ambassador Jackie Wolcott. Rabbi David Saperstein, the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, serves ex officio on the Commission.

To interview a USCIRF Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or 202-786-0615.