USCIRF Spotlight Podcast

USCIRF
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USCIRF Spotlight Podcast

Welcome to a new weekly podcast series called “USCIRF Spotlight” hosted by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal advisory body. During each episode, Director of Outreach and Policy Dwight Bashir features a special guest to dive deeper on various topics and breaking developments that impact the universal right to freedom of religion or belief around the globe.

  1. 11/15/2024

    The US-UK Special Relationship: FoRB in Focus

    On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck joins Senior Strategic Advisor Elizabeth Cassidy to reflect on his trip to the United Kingdom. Marked by a special relationship, the United States, and the United Kingdom, aim to place a special focus on international religious freedom. Chair Schneck discusses USCIRF’s key engagements held with government and civil society actors and highlights the UK’s leadership role in the space.  Read USCIRF’s 2024 Annual ReportWith Contributions from:Elizabeth Cassidy, Senior Strategic Advisor, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

    23 min

  2. 08/09/2024

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

    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 humanity and genocide. Ten years on, survivors face multiple threats to their religious freedom, security, and existence within their homelands.Today, Ambassador David Saperstein, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, and the Hon. Frank Wolf, former U.S. Representative (R-VA 10th) and former Commissioner at the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), join USCIRF Senior Policy Analyst Susan Bishai. They share their firsthand insight into the United States’ response to ISIS’s genocide and crimes against humanity, as well as offer recommendations for the U.S. to support religious freedom for the surviving communities, ten years on.Listen to USCIRF’s first podcast (https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/uscirf-spotlight/10-years-ongoing-threats-religious-minority-survivors-isiss-genocide) in this series commemorating the tenth anniversary of ISIS’s genocide. Read USCIRF’s 2024 Annual Report Chapter on Iraq (https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/Iraq.pdf) and view USCIRF's Hearing on Religious Minorities & Governance in Iraq (https://www.uscirf.gov/events/hearings/religious-minorities-and-governance-iraq).With Contributions from:Susan Bishai, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

    34 min

  3. 08/02/2024

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

    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’s atrocities against Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’a Muslims constituted crimes against humanity and genocide. In 2019, an international coalition defeated ISIS’s last territorial hold in Iraq and Syria. However, ten years on, survivors face multiple threats to their religious freedom, security, and existence within their homelands.Jamileh Naso, President, Canadian Yazidi Association; Nadia Cavner, Philanthropist and Advocate for Assyrians; and Dr. Ali Akram Albayati, Co-Founder, Turkmen Rescue Foundation join USCIRF Senior Policy Analyst Susan Bishai to discuss religious minorities’ ongoing struggles to rebuild in the region.Read USCIRF’s 2024 Annual Report Chapter on Iraq (https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/Iraq.pdf) and view USCIRF's Hearing on Religious Minorities & Governance in Iraq (https://www.uscirf.gov/events/hearings/religious-minorities-and-governance-iraq).With Contributions from:Susan Bishai, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

    28 min

  4. 07/25/2024

    The Religious Garb Ban that Undermines the Olympic Spirit

    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 expression is not unusual in France, where the government has enacted similarly strict restrictions on wearing religious garb in public spaces. France has also seen a proliferation of antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred, as well as governmental anti-cult efforts negatively impacting religious organizations.  On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Supervisory Policy Analyst Scott Weiner and Researcher Luke Wilson discuss the French government’s worrying restrictions on wearing religious garb in the public sphere.  With Contributions from:Scott Weiner, Supervisory Policy Analyst, USCIRFLuke Wilson, Researcher, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

    20 min

  5. 07/03/2024

    USCIRF's Spirit of Bipartisanship

    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 non-partisan staff to monitor egregious religious freedom violations around the world and to make independent policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State, and Congress.On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck and Vice Chair Eric Ueland join us to discuss USCIRF's bipartisan nature and its unique framework to ensure international religious freedom remains a bipartisan issue in U.S. foreign policy. Read USCIRF’s 2024 Annual Report (https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2024-05/USCIRF%202024%20Annual%20Report.pdf) With Contributions from:Stephen Schneck, Chair, USCIRFEric Ueland, Vice Chair, USCIRFJamie Staley, Acting Director of Research & Policy, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

    18 min

  6. 01/25/2024

    Shortcomings of the State Department’s CPC Designations

    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 with USCIRF’s recommendations. On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Abraham Cooper and Vice Chair Frederick A. Davie join us to discuss the State Department’s most recent CPC designations—specifically the countries we think should have been added to this list including India, Nigeria, Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Syria. Read USCIRF’s Press Release on the 2023 State Department IRF Designations (https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/releases-statements/uscirf-calls-congressional-hearing-after-state-department-fails)With Contributions from:Abraham Cooper, Chair, USCIRFFrederick A. Davie, Vice Chair, USCIRFElizabeth Cassidy, Director of Research & Policy, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

    31 min

  7. 06/22/2023

    Violence Against Tribal Christians in Manipur, India

    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. More than 250 churches of different denominations have been burned or damaged across the state. Religious freedom in India has declined in recent years, marked by the promotion and enforcement of discriminatory laws and practices that negatively impact the country’s minority Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and Adivasis populations. In its 2023 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the State Department designate India as a Country of Particular Concern for systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.USCIRF Policy Analyst Sema Hasan joins Supervisory Policy Advisor Jamie Staley to discuss the current conflict in Manipur and religious freedom conditions in India. Read USCIRF’s 2023 Annual Report Chapter on India (https://www.uscirf.gov/sites/default/files/2023-05/India%202023.pdf)With Contributions from:Jamie Staley, Supervisory Policy Advisor, USCIRFSema Hasan, Policy Analyst, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

    15 min

  8. 02/10/2023

    The State of Religious Freedom in Algeria

    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 Algeria on its Special Watch List (SWL), following USCIRF’s recommendation. USCIRF Senior Policy Analyst, Madeline Vellturo, joins Researcher, Hilary Miller, to discuss the continued decline of religious freedom in Algeria.Read USCIRF’s Law and Religion in Algeria Factsheet (https://www.uscirf.gov/publications/law-and-religion-algeria)With Contributions from:Madeline Vellturo, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRFHilary Miller, Researcher, USCIRFVeronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

    17 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
12 Ratings

About

Welcome to a new weekly podcast series called “USCIRF Spotlight” hosted by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent federal advisory body. During each episode, Director of Outreach and Policy Dwight Bashir features a special guest to dive deeper on various topics and breaking developments that impact the universal right to freedom of religion or belief around the globe.

Information

  • Creator
    USCIRF
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2024
  • Episodes
    110
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025 USCIRF Spotlight Podcast
  • Show Website
    USCIRF Spotlight Podcast

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