On March 25, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) held a launch event for its annual report. The event, held in a Senate office building on Capitol Hill, featured 10 current members of Congress. The strong Congressional showing and repeated emphasis on USCIRF’s independent and bipartisan roots belied the present unusual political moment in the United States: a moment characterized by the Trump administration’s slash-and-burn approach to government reform, hostility toward foreign aid, and virulent partisanship.
USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal body that monitors the status of freedom of religion abroad in order to make policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. Each year, USCIRF releases an annual report covering the previous year’s developments and making recommendations on the designation of “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) where there is “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” violations of religious freedoms.
Traditionally, later in the year, the U.S. State Department makes its determination on which countries to actually designate as CPCs under the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), which stipulates punitive sanctions – unless, of course, those sanctions are waived. The report also recommends countries to include on a special watch list (SWL), which entails no immediate punishments, but indicates growing concern.
Although USCIRF released a report in 2024, the outgoing Biden administration did not make CPC designations last year, meaning that the 2023 designations remain in place.
The 2025 report recommends that the U.S. State Department re-designate 12 countries currently labeled as CPCs (China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan), and designate four additional countries (Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, and Vietnam). The report recommends that the State Department keep Algeria and Azerbaijan on the SWL, and include 10 other countries: Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. The report also recommends re-designating seven nonstate actors as “entities of particular concern” (EPCs).
Of the 16 countries USCIRF recommends for CPC designation, nine are in The Diplomat’s core coverage area, with Iran and Russia additional notable countries on Asia’s peripheries. Asia is also overrepresented in the SWL.
Religious Freedom in Central Asia
Once again, the USCIRF recommended that the U.S. State Department designate Tajikistan and Turkmenistan as CPCs for being among the world’s worst violators of religious freedoms. The 2025 annual report also recommends listing the rest of Central Asia – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan – on the SWL. The commission again suggested that Tajikistan and Turkmenistan not be granted waivers, and thereby face the repercussions of designation.
In 2024, USCIRF recommended for the first time the inclusion of Kyrgyzstan in the SWL, meaning that – also for the first time – every Central Asian state appeared in the report, underscoring the region’s complex and difficult religious milieu.
Commissioner Mohamed Elsanousi acknowledged that Central Asian countries are “still struggling with providing religious freedom for everyone.” He suggested that this, in part, stems from fear. “They are scared about their neighbors, let’s put it this way,” he told The Diplomat. He noted that these countries are worried that in the course of providing greater religious freedom, “some of the neighbors may influence those groups.”
“We acknowledge that these countries still have work to do,” he said.
Afghanistan and the Refugee Conundrum
Although USCIRF has recommended that Afghanistan, under the de facto rule of the Taliban, be designated as a CPC since its 2022 report, the State Department has continued to maintain the Taliban on its EPC list, a decision arguably rooted in Washington’s non-recognition of the Taliban government. The 2025 report, however, notes that despite a lack of formal recognition, “several delegations of U.S. officials participated in international forums with Taliban members in 2024.”
Also since 2022, USCIRF has recommended that Congress carve out a P-2 designation – a type of priority designation for refugees seeing safety in the United States – specifically for “members of religious groups at extreme risk of persecution by the Taliban.”
Although this recommendation is not new to the 2025 report, the circumstances surrounding refugee admittance, regardless of category, in the United States has changed dramatically. On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, with devastating effects for Afghan refugees, among others. Although a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in late February, and this week blocked the administration from terminating agreements with refugee-servicing agencies, it’s not yet clear what the Trump administration will do in response.
“The court was clear: the refugee program is not optional,” Shawn VanDiver, president of #AfghanEvac said in an email to journalists on March 25. “It’s the law. But that only matters if the administration follows the ruling – and so far, they haven’t.”
Commissioner Elsanousi noted that, “in the first Trump administration we have seen that the administration paid special attention to religious freedom. I believe that in the second Trump administration they will also make religious freedom a priority foreign policy tool.” Elsanousi characterized the administration’s early moves as painting with a broad brush. “But I think they may come back and say that those who are persecuted because of their faith or belief, they may give them waivers, they may make exceptions,” he said.
International Religious Freedom Abroad, Political Turmoil at Home?
The report launch event featured remarks by two senators and eight representatives (Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-11), Brad Sherman (D, CA-32), Lateefah Simon (D, CA-12), Jim McGovern (D, MA-2), Chris Smith (R, NJ-4), Robert Aderholt (R, AL-4), John Moolenaar (R, MI-2), Bill Huizenga (R, MI-4) and Senators James Lankford (R-OK), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD)) – five Republicans and five Democrats.
Some members of Congress spoke with great passion about the importance of the United States supporting religious freedom around the world.
“Make no mistake, the freedom of worship is a bedrock human right,” Pelosi, formerly the speaker of the house, said in her remarks.
In his remarks, Representative McGovern made a striking statement that turned attention from freedom abroad to freedom at home and the link between: “Let us be clear, it is wrong for any government to try to dictate what people are allowed to believe and to use the power of the state to impose such dictates by institutionalizing discrimination though law and policy. This is a violation of human rights whether that government is a foreign country or our own.”
He went on also to note other administration efforts that may affect U.S. understanding about religious freedom conditions aboard, including the campaign to shut down Radio Free Asia (RFA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), as well as Voice of America and other U.S.-government funded broadcasting outlets.
“I have to tell you, I worry about the future. For its meticulous research, your report relies on the essential reporting of Radio Free Asia on developments in China, Vietnam, and North Korea; the same with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Russia, Turkmenistan, and beyond,” McGovern said.
The decision to cancel RFA and RFE/RL’s grants “is as shocking as it is self-defeating,” he added. Unless a bipartisan coalition in Congress can save them, “these indispensable sources of independent information from within closed societies will disappear.” To that, McGovern added concerns about other agencies and NGOs which do work on which USCIRF relies.
“How can we speak up for those who are suffering for their beliefs if we lose the ability to know what they are experiencing?”
In his opening remarks, USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck acknowledged the transition period and, just as Elsanousi later did in his interview with The Diplomat, urged the Trump administration to recall its past actions in support of international religious freedom.
“I’d like to take a moment to acknowledge that the transition to a new U.S. administration in January 2025 has involved policy shifts that will undoubtedly impact international religious freedom,” Schneck said. “This has included the suspension or cancellation of programs that Congress had funded specifically for IRFA-related work, including emergency support to victims of religious repression. We have likewise seen a suspension of refugee resettlement programs for those fleeing religious persecution in their countries of origin.”
Schneck went on to note that IRFA mandates a “holistic approach” to pursuing the cause of international religious freedom. “IRFA states that in addition to condemning violations – name and shame – it shall be the policy of the United States ‘to use and implement appropriate tools in United States foreign policy apparatus including diplomatic, political, commercial, charitable, educational and cultural channels to promote respect for religious freedom by all governments and peoples,’” Schneck said, quoting the law directly.
“As such, the statute requires religious freedom to be an element not only of U.S. bilateral and multilateral diplomacy but also of U.S. foreign assistance, cultural exchange and international broadcasting programs.”
In 2020, during his first administration, Trump signed an executive order dedicating $50 million annually IRFA programs through the State Department and USAID, including programs that Vice President J.D. Vance praised last month when speaking at the fifth annual IRF Summit.
“With these issues in mind, we at USCIRF encouraged the new administration of Donald J. Trump to demonstrate the same or even greater commitment to advancing international religious freedom as was so evident in his first administration,” Schneck said.
