Holding nations accountable

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: It’s Thursday, the 27th of March.

Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Up first: shining a light on religious persecution around the world.

This week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its annual report. The independent watchdog tracks violations in countries like China, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan and makes recommendations to the State Department to act.

Recommendations include designating a Country of Particular Concern or restricting foreign aid, among other actions.

BROWN: Where it gets complicated is when strategic partners like India and Nigeria end up on the list.

At a press event Tuesday, Oklahoma Senator James Lankford likened hidden persecution to mold growing behind the walls of a house.

LANKFORD: There are many countries around the world that keep the sheetrock up and say don't look at this part. And what this group is doing is they're pulling back what others are covering up and saying that's disastrous inside.

REICHARD: So what is behind the sheetrock? Joining us now is Stephen Schneck, political philosopher and current Chairman of UCIRF.

Chairman Schneck, good morning.

STEPHEN SCHNECK: Good morning, Mary.

REICHARD: Chairman, the Commission was formed in 1998 to make religious freedom a greater priority in U.S. diplomacy. How would you say USCIRF’s work has influenced how American officials respond to persecution in a country like Nicaragua?

SCHNECK: Yes, I think that since our formation in 1998, USCIRF has proven itself to be incredibly valuable to the United States foreign policy. We identified, for example, the government in Nicaragua cancelling the legal status of a large number of religious organizations. In fact, you know, by our count, more than 1500 non-governmental organizations were cancelled in Nicaragua and last year alone. And for the most part, those were religious in nature, Catholic and Protestant. And if I could add to that a little bit more, since we have Easter week coming up, not too far down the road, last year the Ortega -Maria regime in Nicaragua sent approximately 4,000 officers to Catholic churches around the country, at Easter, to block holy week processions in the country. So identifying instances like that, where we see real religious persecution taking place. It's been the, I think, the invaluable contribution that USCIRF has offered to the United States government and, frankly, to the world community since its foundation.

REICHARD: The State Department currently designates twelve countries as “Countries of Particular Concern.” But USCIRF has for years urged the addition of other countries, including Nigeria, India, and Vietnam. Given America’s economic ties to those countries…how does that complicate things to hold them accountable?

SCHNECK: Our job, our legislation, in fact, calls on USCIRF to speak unflinchingly about the challenges to religious freedom around the world. And so our job is separate from whatever the foreign policy concerns of the State Department or any particular administration might be. So we call it out as we see it. Now, as you identify with India and Nigeria and Vietnam, the State Department has bilateral concerns, geopolitical concerns, that it obviously considers in these circumstances. Nevertheless, our job is, in a sense, to speak truth to power. And that's what we believe that we do in calling out the persecutions that we see taking place in these countries.

REICHARD: Let’s talk about Azerbaijan. USCIRF previously recommended it to be listed as a Country of Particular Concern, but now it’s on the Special Watch List. For listeners who may not know, Azerbaijan is a majority-Muslim nation just south of Russia, often at odds with Christian-majority Armenia. What prompted the change in designation?

SCHNECK: You know we remain very concerned about the large number of imprisoned Shia Muslims in the country. In fact, you know, approximately 223, and maybe even more than that, were kind of collected off the streets because the government charged them with, you know, a variety of drug crimes. But we think that's entirely spurious. In fact, you know, we're concerned in general about the religion laws in the country. In Azerbaijan, for example, the government is able to monitor and approve sermons and mosques and it regulates who can be named as Imam. So those are our primary concerns. The situation with Armenia, we see as something entirely different here. Obviously, we're very concerned about the situation of the Armenian majority or Armenian minority in the country, but we don't see that primarily as a religious concern.

REICHARD: But then what about Azerbaijan’s actions in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh where soldiers destroyed churches and tried to erase Christian history from the area?

SCHNECK: Yes, we're very concerned, particularly about the government's promise to restore the damaged religion sites in the NK region and expect them to fulfill their promises in regards to that restoration.

REICHARD: In 2024, the Biden administration did not make any updates to the CPC or Watch List. It stuck with the designations from the prior year. What do you hope to see from the Trump administration in this second term?

SCHNECK: You know, we hope to see in the second Trump administration, what we saw in the first Trump administration, and that was a real focus on the issue of religious freedom around the world. And so we hope, for example, that they move quickly to put out their own list of countries of particular concern, SWL countries and EPC entities around the world. As well, we'd very much like to see the appointment of a new IRF ambassador to the State Department and we'd very much like to see the Trump administration include a religious freedom expert within the National Security Council. So those are the sorts of things that we're looking for in this new administration.

REICHARD: Chairman, while USCIRF’s focus is on international violations, some Americans are concerned about threats to religious freedom here at home. Cases like Colorado baker Jack Phillips who was dragged through the courts for a dozen years because he didn’t want to make custom cakes that violated his religious beliefs. How do you see domestic cases in the broader conversation about religious liberty?

SCHNECK: You know, in fact, what we've seen from USCIRF’s perspective, and of course we are primarily focused, only focused really, on the international scene, but what we've seen around the world is a spike in instances of repression on people on the basis of their faith and their beliefs and, you know, so we're very concerned and this isn't something that's just, you know, limited to, you know, countries on the periphery of America's attention. It seems to us that religious freedom concerns are evident in almost every country of the planet and so we watch closely and are very concerned about a larger surge of challenges to the freedom of religion around the world.

REICHARD: Wrapping up here…is there any other aspect of this report that warrants more attention?

SCHNECK: One of the things that I would encourage your listeners to notice is that there's a real correlation between the surge that we're seeing in religious freedom violations and the decay of democracy and the rising of authoritarianism around the world. These things seem to be going hand And, you know, I think that that's something that your listeners might appreciate keeping an eye on.

REICHARD: Stephen Schneck is Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

SCHNECK: It’s an honor. Thank you, Mary.

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