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

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

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

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 Report

With Contributions from:

Elizabeth Cassidy, Senior Strategic Advisor, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

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 in this series commemorating the tenth anniversary of ISIS’s genocide. Read USCIRF’s 2024 Annual Report Chapter on Iraq and view USCIRF's Hearing on Religious Minorities & Governance in Iraq.

With Contributions from:

Susan Bishai, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

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 and view USCIRF's Hearing on Religious Minorities & Governance in Iraq.

With Contributions from:

Susan Bishai, Senior Policy Analyst, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

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, USCIRF

Luke Wilson, Researcher, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF

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

With Contributions from:

Stephen Schneck, Chair, USCIRF

Eric Ueland, Vice Chair, USCIRF

Jamie Staley, Acting Director of Research & Policy, USCIRF

Veronica McCarthy, Public Affairs Associate, USCIRF