USCIRF Spotlight Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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USCIRF Spotlight Podcast

USCIRF

Government

Frequency: 1 episode/15d. Total Eps: 121

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.

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https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/international-ministerial-conference-on-freedom-of-religion-or-belief-london-2022/about
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The IRF Ambassador: A Key Component of U.S. Leadership on Religious Freedom

Friday, October 3, 2025 • Duration 33:51

The U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, often referred to as the IRF Ambassador, plays a vital role in the U.S. government’s promotion of international religious freedom. Pursuant to the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), the IRF Ambassador is mandated to head the Office of International Religious Freedom, or IRF Office, at the State Department. Additional duties include serving as the principal adviser to the President and Secretary of State on matters involving religious freedom abroad and representing the United States on IRF matters diplomatically. In April, President Trump nominated Mark Walker as the next IRF Ambassador. As religious persecution increases globally, it is urgent that the Senate confirm an IRF ambassador to ensure this issue remains a priority in U.S. foreign policy and globally.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Hartzler and Vice Chair Mahmood speak with former IRF Ambassadors David Saperstein and Samuel Brownback to reflect on the impact of this position and share recommendations for the next Ambassador.

Read USCIRF’s Factsheet on Key IRF-Related Positions, along with USCIRF’s Factsheet on IRFA to learn more about the legislation establishing the IRF Ambassador position.

With Contributions from:

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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China’s Religious Freedom Violations on the Basis of Article 300

Friday, September 12, 2025 • Duration 32:21

China has perpetrated gross religious freedom violations against religious groups of recognized religions through its “sinicization of religion” policy. However, the government also persecutes many religious groups of unrecognized religions and spiritual movements, such as Falun Gong and Church of Almighty God, under the Article 300 of the Criminal Law. Article 300, which was adopted in 1997, punishes individuals who organize or participate in “any superstitious sect, secret society, or cult organization” (xie jiao). There are currently more than 20 groups the government recognizes as “cults” under Article 300. Increasingly, the government has also used this criminal statute to target religious groups belonging to recognized religions, particularly Protestant house churches.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi speaks with Massimo Introvigne, Editor-In-Chief of religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter, to discuss Article 300 and its impacts on religious freedom in China.

Read USCIRF's 2025 Annual Report Chapter on China.

With Contributions from:

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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Religious Freedom in Sudan: Navigating Instability and Civil War

Friday, August 29, 2025 • Duration 22:57

Religious freedom concerns are increasing in Sudan’s current brutal civil war. There are increasing reports of attacks on places of worship and other incidents that violate freedom of religion or belief. The Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have entrenched Sudan in the war since April 2023. The subsequent four years of instability and violence have created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, placing civilians across religious, ethnic, and tribal distinctions under intense threat. Both sides have committed atrocities that the previous U.S. administration determined to be war crimes in December 2023 and as genocide in January 2025.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler speaks with Sudanese human rights lawyer and CSW Sudan Specialist, Mohaned Elnour to discuss his experience working in human rights, specifically religious freedom and belief, in the country. The audience will hear firsthand the complex dynamics communities currently face in Sudan.

Read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report Other Global Developments and USCIRF’s most recent Sudan Issue Update.

With Contributions from:

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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Blasphemy and FoRB in Nigeria: A Conversation with Mubarak Bala

Monday, August 18, 2025 • Duration 30:58

The Nigerian federal government enforces blasphemy laws that include a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment for acts “persons consider as a public insult on their religion.” Twelve Nigerian state governments also enforce their own more stringent blasphemy laws to prosecute and imprison individuals perceived to have insulted religion, including Christians, Muslims, and humanists. There are now four Nigerians incarcerated and convicted of blasphemy, including two religious leaders. In 2021, police arrested humanist Mubarak Bala for “insulting the Prophet,” and in 2022, a court sentenced him to decades in prison. Following an international outcry, an appeals court reduced his sentence to five years and released him in 2024. Mr. Bala, formerly the president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, is living abroad while his sentence in under appeal. In its 2025 annual report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi speaks with humanist Mubarak Bala to discuss his experience of prosecution and imprisonment under Nigeria’s blasphemy laws and how these laws impact religious freedom and belief in the country.

Read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report Chapter on Nigeria and USCIRF’s most recent Nigeria Country Update.

With Contributions from:

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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The Status and Significance of CPC, SWL, and EPC Designations: A Conversation with Former USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck

Thursday, July 31, 2025 • Duration 28:33

One of the most important elements of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 is the requirement for the U.S. Secretary of State to designate the world’s worst violators of religious freedom as Countries of Particular Concern and to enact accountability measures as a result of those designations. Subsequent legislation created a Special Watch List for other countries with significant violations and created a new category of Entities of Particular Concern for nonstate actors that commit such violations and control territory. However, the State Department last released its designations nearly two years ago, in December 2023—and they are now set to expire later this year.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Commissioner Stephen Schneck joins Deputy Director of Research and Policy Kurt Werthmuller to discuss the importance of the State Departments CPC, SWL, and EPC designations, as well as to share reflections on his time as USCIRF Chair over the previous year.

Read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report—including its current CPC, SWL, and EPC recommendations—and the U.S. legislation behind these designations.

With Contributions from:

Kurt Werthmuller, Deputy Director of Research and Policy, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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The Extensive Reach of Chinese Transnational Repression

Monday, July 14, 2025 • Duration 14:35

China has been described as the “most prolific,” “sophisticated, far-reaching, and comprehensive” perpetrator of transnational repression in the world. It has targeted many religious communities in diaspora, including Uyghur Muslims, Protestant Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, and members of the Church of Almighty God. Specific transnational repression tactics used by the Chinese government include stalking, harassment, intimidation or threats, assault, kidnapping, forcing or coercing the victim to return to China, and threatening or detaining family members in China. In its 2025 annual report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate China as a Country of Particular Concern.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Vicky Hartzler joins Supervisory Policy Advisor Mingzhi Chen to discuss the impact of China’s transnational repression on religious freedom.

Read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report Chapter on China and USCIRF’s most recent factsheet on Sinicization of Religion: China’s Coercive Religious Policy.

With Contributions from:

Mingzhi Chen, Supervisory Policy Advisor, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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The Abuse of Extremism Laws in Central Asia

Friday, May 30, 2025 • Duration 30:38

The governments of Central Asia—that is Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—influenced by decades of Soviet rule, maintain similar legislation to combat “extremism.” Each of these governments uses these laws beyond just addressing legitimate security threats to penalize individuals engaged in peaceful religious activities. Enforcement measures have included harassment, fines, forced renunciations of faith, detainment, imprisonment, and, at times, torture and extrajudicial killings.

On today's episode, Jasmine Cameron, the Europe and Eurasia Senior Legal Advisor at the American Bar Association, and Edward Lemon, the President of the Oxus Society for Central Asian Affairs, join USCIRF Commissioner Asif Mahmood. They discuss the international standards for protecting core human rights while addressing security concerns and the ways in which extremism laws in Central Asia violate such standards. They also share how Central Asian states abuse extremism legislation to penalize peaceful religious activities through transnational repression. Finally, they offer recommendations for the U.S. to support religious freedom in Central Asia.

Read USCIRF’s Issue Update on the Abuse of Extremism Laws in Central Asia for more information on this topic. To learn more about religious freedom in Central Asia, read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report.

With Contributions from:

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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Religious Freedom as Syria Transitions After Assad

Friday, May 23, 2025 • Duration 27:11

At the end of 2024, over thirteen years since the onset of Syria’s protracted civil war, the country’s political landscape dramatically shifted when a rebel coalition toppled the government of President Bashar al-Assad. Religious freedom conditions had suffered over the course of the civil war under a variety of state and nonstate actors. Now, in the months since the fall of the Assad regime, freedom of religion or belief faces ongoing nationwide challenges as Damascus continues its political transition under members of U.S.-designated terrorist organization HTS, itself a violator of religious freedom. Meanwhile, Turkey’s military strikes and support for Islamist militias pose additional threats to diverse religious communities in the north and east. In its 2025 Annual Report USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State add Syria to the Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, Former USCIRF Chair and current President of the IRF Secretariat Nadine Maenza will join USCIRF Commissioner Maureen Ferguson to discuss findings from Ms. Maenza’s recent travel to Syria, including Damascus, where several religious communities face ongoing threats to religious freedom as Syria continues its transition.

Read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report chapter on Syria and 2022 factsheet on Religious Freedom in Syria Under Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and listen to USCIRF’s 2022 Spotlight episode on HTS’s religious freedom violations.

With Contributions from:

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

Reflections on USCIRF's 2025 Trip to Azerbaijan

Saturday, May 17, 2025 • Duration 37:35

The religious freedom situation in Azerbaijan remains highly restricted. The government subjects virtually all religious practices to intrusive state oversight. Shi'a Muslims who do not operate within the government's preferred boundaries have faced imprisonment on dubious charges. Armenian religious sites in Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding regions remain threatened since Azerbaijan regained control. In its 2025 Annual Report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State maintain Azerbaijan on the Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck, Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi, and Commissioner Vicky Hartzler join Director of Research and Policy Guillermo Cantor to discuss their recent travels to Azerbaijan.

Read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report Chapter on Azerbaijan and USCIRF’s most recent Azerbaijan Country Update.

With Contributions from:

Guillermo Cantor, Director of Research & Policy, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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The State of Religious Freedom in India

Thursday, May 1, 2025 • Duration 21:05

In recent years, USCIRF has reported declining religious freedom conditions in India, as the government continues to enforce and strengthen legislation that disproportionately impacts religious minorities, including anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws. These laws often target Muslim and Christian communities. In its 2025 annual report, USCIRF recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate India as a Country of Particular Concern.

On today’s episode of the USCIRF Spotlight Podcast, USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck joins Senior Policy Analyst Sema Hasan to discuss the decline of religious freedom in India with particular focus on legislation.

Read USCIRF’s 2025 Annual Report Chapter on India and USCIRF’s most recent India Country Update.

With Contributions from:

Sema Hasan, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Specialist, USCIRF

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USCIRF Spotlight Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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USCIRF Spotlight Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

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