In West Java, Indonesia, over 6,000 Ahmadiyya Muslims were left stranded at a railway station when local authorities abruptly shut down their annual gathering. Other religious minorities such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baháʼís, Buddhists, Hindus, and Shia Muslims face similar discrimination and harsh treatment, including government efforts to shut down or outright ban their religious meetings and other activities.
“Now is the time for these governments to take needed steps to reverse course and embrace religious freedom.”
In Sri Lanka, the Department of Examinations withheld exam results from 70 Muslim women from Zahira College who wore religious head coverings, claiming without evidence that they could have concealed Bluetooth earpieces to aid them during the exam. Meanwhile, Christian, Hindu, Muslim and other faith communities find their options to gather for worship dwindling as the government designates wider and wider areas as “Buddhist cultural sites.”
Who speaks for these silenced voices? Who is there to call for accountability? And whose voice would be strong enough to demand and secure justice for those whose religious freedom has been denied?
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bipartisan legislative branch agency that monitors religious freedom abroad. It singles out countries guilty of serious violations and recommends sanctions to Congress, the secretary of state and the president.
The countries named above are all included on USCIRF’s Special Watch List of nations that actively flout the religious freedom of their own citizens, those minority communities whose birthright to practice their faith is just as legitimate as any other human group, large or small.
But USCIRF can only recommend, while it is Congress and the government that can enforce. And lately America has been dragging her feet as the world leader in religious freedom: Nearly two years have passed and the government has taken virtually no action on USCIRF’s recommendations. Instead, there have only been isolated sanctions and, in some instances, economic and diplomatic ties with offending countries have even been increased.
All of which is why USCIRF applauded the just-introduced House Resolution 738, calling on America to reaffirm its commitment to global religious freedom.
The bipartisan resolution acknowledges that the US “has strong bilateral relationships and many diplomatic engagements with the governments of foreign countries that engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom,” and specifically lists those Special Watch List countries, along with the faith communities they suppress.
“I am so encouraged that Rep. French Hill and Rep. James McGovern introduced H. Res. 738. It shows how leaders continue to work together across the aisle to advance religious freedom abroad,” said USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler. “Focusing on those countries USCIRF has recommended for the Special Watch List is needed and timely. These governments, which actively engage with the US government, are violating the religious freedom of their citizens. Now is the time for these governments to take needed steps to reverse course and embrace religious freedom, which is not just the right thing to do according to international standards, but which also promotes economic prosperity and security for their countries.”
In addition to urging America to reassert its leadership in championing religious freedom, the resolution also urges the secretary of state to “engage robustly” with allies and partners on that human right, and affirms the importance of the offices of the Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom and the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
Shutting one’s eyes to a wrong doesn’t make it disappear.
Failing to act against an injustice makes one a party to the injustice.
Americans cherish freedom of worship as a cornerstone of their own identity. To deny that same right abroad is to betray the very principles we hold sacred—making America less America and Americans less themselves.
