USCIRF Spotlight Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Conditions for Religious and Nonbelief Communities in Turkey Jul 07, 2022

Show notes

This past spring, USCIRF staff traveled to Turkey and met with religious and nonbelief communities across the country. Numerous issues continue to negatively impact their freedom of religion or belief, including an inability to train clergy, mandatory religion classes, the threat of blasphemy charges, and other forms of discrimination. USCIRF has monitored and reported on Turkey since the late 2000s, recommending it for placement on the Special Watch List (previously known as Tier 2) every year since 2014 and most recently again in USCIRF’s 2022 Annual Report.

Senior Policy Analyst Keely Bakken, who was part of that USCIRF delegation to Turkey, joins us today to discuss some of the findings of that trip as well as USCIRF’s recent policy recommendations.

Read USCIRF’s 2022 Annual Report Chapter on Turkey

Listen to USCIRF’s Spotlight Podcast Episode Sivas Massacre and Turkey’s Persecution of the Alevi Community

Listen to USCIRF’s Spotlight Podcast Episode 50 Years and Counting: The Continued Closure of Halki Seminary in Turkey

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Keely Bakken, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Dylan Schexnaydre, Victims List and Outreach Specialist, USCIRF

Preview of the 2022 International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief Jul 01, 2022

Show notes

On July 5 and 6, the British government will be hosting the 2022 International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) in London. The conference will bring together government, civil society, faith, and belief groups to agree on action to prevent FoRB violations and abuses and offer ways to protect and promote religious freedom around the world.

British Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief Fiona Bruce joins us today to preview the activities at this year’s ministerial and discusses her work with the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA) in advancing religious freedom globally.

Learn more about the 2022 International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion or Belief

Learn more about IRFBA

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Dylan Schexnaydre, Victims List and Outreach Specialist, USCIRF

Preview of the IRF Summit 2022 Jun 23, 2022

Show notes

Next week, from June 28 to June 30, the second annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit will be held in Washington, DC. The IRF Summit brings together a diverse coalition of NGOs and individuals from all over the world committed to the fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief and aims to increase public awareness and political support for the international religious freedom movement.

Former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, co-chair of the IRF Summit, joins us today to preview this year’s activities and the Summit’s importance for promoting freedom of religion or belief.

Check out the IRF Summit website

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Kirsten Lavery, Supervisory Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Dylan Schexnaydre, Victims List and Outreach Specialist, USCIRF

Religious Freedom Backslides in Central African Republic Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

USCIRF began monitoring religious freedom conditions in Central African Republic (CAR) in 2013 when the country descended into civil conflict. After seven years of recommending that CAR be designated a country of particular concern, in 2020 USCIRF recommended CAR for Special Watchlist status due to improvements in the situation on the ground—and the next year, in 2021, we no longer recommended CAR for even the Special Watchlist. However, religious freedom conditions in CAR deteriorated in 2021, especially for Muslim minorities, causing USCIRF to return CAR to the list of countries it recommends for Special Watchlist status.

John Lechner, an expert in geopolitics and human rights in Africa who recently returned from CAR, joins us today to discuss religious freedom conditions in the country.

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

John Lechner, Expert on security, geopolitics, and human rights in Africa

Gabrielle Hasenstab, Communications Specialist, USCIRF

Religious Prisoners of Conscience in Iran Jun 10, 2022

Show notes

Iran has gone to great lengths to arrest and detain religious minorities, including Christians, Baha’is, Sunni Muslims, Sufis, and spiritualists. The Iranian government has taken it a step further and also targeted those who peacefully dissent from the government’s preferred religious views, particularly women, nontheists, and members of the LGBTI community. Amid country-wide protests in Iran over the past several weeks over food subsidies, as well as ongoing multilateral talks in Vienna, Iran is once again in the foreign policy spotlight.

USCIRF Supervisory Policy Analyst Scott Weiner with Victims List and Outreach Specialist Dylan Schexnaydre join us today to discuss religious prisoners of conscience in Iran and USCIRF’s Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List.

Check out the Freedom of Religion or Belief Victim’s List

Read USCIRF’s Factsheet on Global Overview of Refugees Fleeing Religious Persecution

Read USCIRF’s 2022 Annual Report Chapter on Iran

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Scott Weiner, Supervisory Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Dylan Schexnaydre, Victims List and Outreach Specialist, USCIRF

Gabrielle Hasenstab, Communications Specialist, USCIRF

Uzbekistan: Gaps in Principles and Practice Jun 03, 2022

Show notes

Uzbekistan is one of a handful of countries that has seen dramatic improvements for religious freedom in recent years; however, religious communities are still experiencing high levels of government regulation and repression that is continuing to impact their ability to exercise their freedom of religion or belief.

In April 2022, USCIRF sent a delegation to Uzbekistan. Senior Policy Analyst Keely Bakken, who was part of that USCIRF delegation to Uzbekistan, joins us today to discuss the outcome of the trip, recent developments since then, and other areas of possible reform in Uzbekistan.

Read USCIRF’s report on Uzbekistan’s Religious and Political Prisoners

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Keely Bakken, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Gabrielle Hasenstab, Communications Specialist, USCIRF

Treatment of Asylum Seekers in the Expedited Removal Process May 20, 2022

Show notes

Expedited Removal is the U.S. immigration law process that allows officers in the Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, to quickly deport noncitizens who arrive at U.S. ports of entry or cross the border without proper documents, unless the noncitizen can establish a “credible fear” of persecution or torture. Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. government has expelled most migrants and asylum seekers who try to enter the United States under a public health authority, referred to as Title 42, rather than under Expedited Removal. Beginning in mid-2021, the Biden administration resumed using Expedited Removal in some cases. It is planning to lift the Title 42 order soon and return to using Expedited Removal more broadly.

Elizabeth Cassidy, USCIRF’s Director of Research and Policy, joins us today to discuss concerns and recommendations about the treatment of asylum seekers in the Expedited Removal process and its relevance to international religious freedom.

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Elizabeth Cassidy, Director of Research and Policy, USCIRF

Gabrielle Hasenstab, Communications Specialist, USCIRF

Content Moderation Online and its Impact on Religious Freedom May 16, 2022

Show notes

To combat the human rights and religious freedom violations that have occurred as a result of online hate speech, some social media companies now regulate speech on their platforms. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social media platforms often have rules that ban certain types of speech—including hate speech directed at religious communities. However, the excess removal of speech can also impact the right to religious freedom and religious expression of users.

Lou Ann Sabatier, Principal at Sabatier Consulting, joins us today to discuss content moderation and its impact on freedom of religion or belief globally.

See USCIRF’s factsheet Protecting Religious Freedom Online

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Lou Ann Sabatier, Principal, Sabatier Consulting

Kirsten Lavery, Supervisory Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Gabrielle Hasenstab, Communications Specialist, USCIRF

Anti-Conversion Laws and Growing Intolerance in India May 06, 2022

Show notes

Since 2020, USCIRF has recommended that India be designated a Country of Particular of Concern, or CPC, due to the Indian government’s promotion of Hindu nationalism, and engagement and facilitation of systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. The othering of those that are non-Hindu through the misuse of national and state-level legislation has turned India’s diverse and pluralistic society into more of a hostile state for many religious communities, particularly Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Adivasis, and Dalits.

Today USCIRF Commissioner Anurima Bhargava joins us to discuss the growing climate of intolerance toward non-Hindus in India.

Read USCIRF’s 2022 Annual Report Chapter on India

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Anurima Bhargava, Commissioner, USCIRF

Gabrielle Hasenstab, Communications Specialist, USCIRF

Niala Mohammad, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRF

USCIRF Releases 2022 Annual Report with Recommendations for U.S. Policy Apr 26, 2022

Show notes

On April 25, 2022, USCIRF released its 2022 Annual Report, which documents developments in international religious freedom from 2021. The report provides recommendations to enhance the U.S. government’s promotion of freedom of religion or belief abroad. This year’s report highlights significant regress in countries such as Afghanistan and the Central African Republic (CAR). The report also notes USCIRF recommendations implemented by the U.S. government—including the designation of Russia as a country of particular concern, the imposition of targeted sanctions on religious freedom violators, and genocide determinations for atrocities perpetrated by the Chinese government against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims and by the Burmese military against Rohingya Muslims.

Today we are joined by USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza to discuss this year’s Annual Report as well as some of her most memorable experiences as a Commissioner as her tenure on the Commission comes to an end.

With Contributions from:

Dwight Bashir, Director of Outreach and Policy, USCIRF

Nadine Maenza, Chair, USCIRF

Kurt Werthmuller, Supervisory Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Gabrielle Hasenstab, Communications Specialist, USCIRF