U.S. Religious Freedom Commission Marks 28 Years of Religious Freedom Law

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, USCIRF, has marked 28 years since the signing of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

In a statement on Monday to commemorate International Religious Freedom Day, the Commission said the Act, known as IRFA, laid the foundation for religious freedom as a core U.S. foreign policy priority.

The bipartisan law created USCIRF as an independent legislative agency to monitor religious freedom abroad and introduced tools including the Country of Particular Concern, CPC, designation for governments engaged in particularly severe violations.

Under the law, USCIRF is mandated to advise the President, the Secretary of State and Congress on policy responses to religious persecution.

USCIRF Chair Asif Mahmood said the U.S. remains committed to exposing violations by foreign governments.

“The United States government remains committed to highlighting religious freedom violations perpetrated or tolerated by foreign governments. Through the Commission, we can be a voice for the voiceless, stand with the oppressed, and advocate for religious freedom,” Mahmood said.

He said the Commission’s work had led to the release of prisoners of conscience and policy changes, but noted that “there is so much more to be done to ensure religious freedom is truly for all.

The Commission noted that IRFA was strengthened in 2016 through the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, which created a Special Watch List for countries with severe violations that do not meet the CPC threshold and required USCIRF to maintain a public list of victims imprisoned for their beliefs or advocacy.

Vice Chair CeCe Heil said the Commission also tracks positive developments.

“Countries can demonstrate such improvements by repealing blasphemy laws, anti-conversion laws, and restrictive registration laws that are unjustly used to target religious communities, as we have seen in India, Nigeria, and Pakistan, among others,” Heil said.

USCIRF said religious freedom, as enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, continues to face growing threats globally as IRFA enters its 29th year of implementation.

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