Best USCIRF Podcasts (2024)

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Responses to Genocide: Two Former U.S. Officials Reflect on ISIS’s Genocide in Iraq and Syria 33:32

18d ago33:32

33:32

Ten years ago, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a campaign of mass atrocities to achieve the religious and ethnic cleansing of religious minority groups in Iraq and Syria. In 2016, the U.S. State Department determined ISIS’s atrocities against Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’a Muslims constituted crimes against human…

1
10 Years On: Ongoing Threats to Religious Minority Survivors of ISIS’s Genocide 28:28

25d ago28:28

28:28

Ten years ago, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a campaign of mass atrocities to achieve the religious and ethnic cleansing of Yazidis, Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriac Christians, Shi’a and Sunni Muslim Turkmens, Shabaks, and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria. In 2016, the U.S. State Department determined ISIS…

1
The Religious Garb Ban that Undermines the Olympic Spirit 20:21

20d ago20:21

20:21

The French government has prohibited French athletes from wearing religious garb while competing at the Paris 2024 Olympics. As such, French athletes who wish to wear religious garb are forced to choose between adhering to their sincerely held religious beliefs and competing at the highest level of sport. This tight regulation of religious expressi…

1
USCIRF's Spirit of Bipartisanship 17:37

1M ago17:37

17:37

In 1998, Republicans and Democrats came together to pass the International Religious Freedom Act, creating USCIRF as an independent government Commission led by a bipartisan group of nine Commissioners appointed by both political party leaders in Congress, and by the president. Twenty-five years later, USCIRF’s Commissioners continue to lead the no…

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: USCIRF's 2024 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom

3M ago

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Stephen Schneck and Eric Ueland, commissioners of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), will join Elizabeth Cassidy, senior strategic advisor of USCIRF, to present the key policy recommendations of the USCIRF 2024 annual report and the foreign policy implications of international religious freedom today. USCIRF i…

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: India's 2024 General Elections

4M ago

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Lisa Curtis, senior fellow and director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at Center for a New American Security, and Milan Vaishnav, senior fellow and director of the South Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, discuss the geopolitical implications of India’s general elections and the influence of religion on politics i…

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: Conflict Resolution in Armenia and Azerbaijan

6M ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Shortcomings of the State Department’s CPC Designations 31:16

7M ago31:16

31:16

One of USCIRF’s key functions is to make recommendations to the State Department about which countries we think should be designated as Countries of Particular Concern or CPCs, based on our independent research and analysis. Every year we await the State Department’s announcement of its religious freedom designations to assess how they match up wit…

1
Social Justice Webinar: Global LGBTQ+ Rights

11M ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Social Justice Webinar: Religion and AI

12M ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: Reflecting on Turkey's Elections

1y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Violence Against Tribal Christians in Manipur, India 15:17

1y ago15:17

15:17

In May 2023, violent clashes between two communities erupted in India’s Manipur state, leaving entire villages burned and displacing tens of thousands. The ongoing conflict is between the state’s majority Hindu Meitei community and the Christian Kuki population and has seen the direct targeting of religious symbols and places of worship and refuge.…

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: A Conversation With Richard Haass on Promoting the Common Good

1y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: Religion and Technology

1+ y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: The Dynamics of the European Union

1+ y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
The State of Religious Freedom in Algeria 16:31

1+ y ago16:31

16:31

In recent years USCIRF has reported that religious freedom conditions in Algeria have continued to deteriorate with the government increasingly enforcing blasphemy laws and restricting worship. These laws particularly impact religious minorities, such as Protestant Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims. In 2022, the U.S. Department of State placed Alger…

1
Social Justice Webinar: Social Safety Nets

1+ y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: Lula's Presidency and the Future of Brazil

1+ y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
USCIRF’s FoRB Victims List: Background and 2022 Updates 13:46

1+ y ago13:46

13:46

In 2016, Congress passed the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act which mandated that USCIRF maintain a list of individuals targeted for their religion or belief. In 2019, USCIRF launched its Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) Victims List – an online database that catalogues persons detained, imprisoned, placed under house arrest, d…

1
Social Justice Webinar: U.S. Immigration and Repatriation

1+ y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
State Favored Religions’ Impact on Religious Freedom 22:18

1+ y ago22:18

22:18

Governments around the world use many different strategies to control or repress religion, but a common tactic is for the state to elevate a particular religion to a special status in ways that can marginalize different faiths or belief systems. USCIRF’s recently released report, “A Global Overview of Official and Favored Religions and Global Impli…

1
Differences Between Religious Tolerance and Religious Freedom 22:52

1+ y ago22:52

22:52

Authoritarian states promote religious tolerance without necessarily ensuring freedom of religion or belief. Last month, USCIRF released a report distinguishing between these two concepts and explains the origins of religious tolerance promotion as a tool of statecraft. The report presents case studies of countries engaged in religious tolerance pr…

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: The Protests in Iran

1+ y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Breaking Down the State Department’s IRF Designations 16:20

1+ y ago16:20

16:20

Pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the U.S. Department of State designates Countries of Particular Concern, places countries on its Special Watch List, and designates Entities of Particular Concern. As part of this mandate, USCIRF makes recommendations to the administration, including the State Department, regarding which …

1
Social Justice Webinar: Healthcare Equity and Accessibility Around the World

1+ y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Reflecting on USCIRF’s Visit to Cox’s Bazar 26:13

1+ y ago26:13

26:13

In November 2022, USCIRF visited Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh, to assess the current conditions and issues that Burmese Rohingya refugees are facing. The Rohingya community, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority from Burma, have long fled religious persecution to neighboring Bangladesh. However, the most recent waves of refugees came in August 2017 f…

1
Preview of the IRF Summit 2023 29:03

1+ y ago29:03

29:03

The third annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit will be held in Washington, DC on January 31-February 1, 2023. The IRF Summit is an annual civil society conference that seeks to create a coalition of organizations to work together to advance international religious freedom, raise public awareness about IRF issues, and increase the pol…

1
The Alevi Struggle for Rights in Turkey 28:36

2y ago28:36

28:36

Alevis constitute the largest religious minority in Turkey and have faced persistent obstacles to the exercise of their religious freedom. In October 2022, the Turkish government announced its plan to create a new state-run Alevi institution—the Alevi Bektashi Culture and Cemevi Directorate—which officials say will oversee and address issues faced …

1
The Suffocating Hold of HTS on Northwest Syria 26:09

2y ago26:09

26:09

More than a decade after the onset of Syria’s civil war, the conflict continues with multiple state and non-state actors vying for power. Today, one of the most notable non-state actors is the militant Islamist rebel group and former al-Qaeda affiliate Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Although President Bashar al-Assad has regained control of about 70%…

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: Religious Freedom and U.S. National Security

2y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
The Persecution of Muslims in Tajikistan 24:24

2y ago24:24

24:24

Tajikistan’s population is majority Sunni Muslim, with a small Shi’a Muslim community which primarily consists of ethnic Pamiris located in the mountainous eastern part of the country known as the Gorno Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO). The latest crackdown on civil society in the GBAO followed protests initially sparked in mid-May of this year.…

1
Recovering from Genocide: The Yazidis’ Return to Sinjar 41:06

2y ago41:06

41:06

Since 2014, when ISIS launched its genocidal campaign against the Yazidis—a minority ethno-religious group within the Kurdish-majority areas of Iraq, Syria, Iran and Turkey, as well as in Armenia–hundreds of thousands of Yazidis have been displaced from their native home in the Sinjar region of Iraq. The U.S. government remains deeply invested in h…

1
Religion and Foreign Policy Webinar: The Future of Nuclear Weapons

2y ago

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By Council on Foreign Relations

1
Civil Society’s Important Role in Promoting Freedom of Religion or Belief 34:57

2y ago34:57

34:57

To commemorate this year’s International Religious Freedom Day and the 24th Anniversary of the enactment of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998, USCIRF reflects on the important role civil society plays in promoting freedom of religion or belief abroad. Greg Mitchell, Co-Chair of the IRF Roundtable, joins Elizabeth Cassidy, Director of …

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