Russia has spent recent years in diplomatic and economic hot water with the United States over its mounting human rights and religious freedom violations, including the persecution of Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Protestant Christians. But the ongoing invasion of Ukraine…
Threats to religious freedom and to women go hand in hand
Whenever and wherever religious freedom is threatened, so too are the fundamental rights of women and girls, a panel of experts said during a recent virtual hearing before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “Gender-based and religiously based discrimination…
Fate of children removed from Christian orphanage in Nigeria two years ago still unknown
Update: Soon after this article was published March 4, news arrived that Richard Solomon Musa Tarfa had that day been convicted in a Nigerian court on a charge of forgery. His law firm was awaiting additional court documents but said…
Facebook is stopping a stupendous amount of religious hate speech, but there are dangers in knowing what should be off-limits
The United States has a vital role to play in ensuring social media companies develop new policies and technologies to better protect religious freedom and human rights online, a federal agency reported. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also…
Religious freedom and human rights groups praise Biden for diplomatic boycott of Beijing Olympics
A broader-than-usual coalition of religious liberty and human rights groups are praising the Biden administration’s Dec. 6 announcement that the United States will not send a diplomatic delegation to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Although stopping short of a…
Christian and Muslim groups respond differently to U.S. removal of Nigeria as a U.S. Country of Particular Concern
In Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, few topics elicit as much discussion or controversy as politics or religion and the accompanying effects on the people, for good or bad. It is not surprising then, that the recent delisting of Nigeria…
International religious freedom group decries Biden administration letting Nigeria escape Countries of Particular Concern list
The nation’s top bipartisan watchdog for international religious freedom praised one addition by the U.S. State Department to its 2021 list of Countries of Particular Concern for religious freedom violations but expressed astonishment that another country was dropped from the…
With mass murders of Christians and persecutions of other religious minorities, should Nigeria be redesignated a Country of Particular Concern?
In the past six decades since gaining independence from Britain, Nigeria — Africa’s most populous country — has faced one crisis after the other that threatened to undermine its corporate existence. While the country was able each time to survive…
Religious minorities and others at grave risk in Afghanistan and urgent action needed, U.S. panel declares
The United States and the global community must pressure the Taliban to cease persecuting Afghanistan’s religious and ethnic minorities, women, LGBTQ communities and even Muslims, said a virtual panel of experts convened Oct. 6 by the U.S. Commission on International…