I M P L E M E N TAT I O N O F T H E I N T E R N AT I O N A L R E L I G I O U S F R E E D O M AC T In February 2021, consistent with USCIRF recommendations, the Biden administration announced its intent to increase the annual ceiling for refugees resettled to the United States from abroad for the current and upcoming fiscal years. It also indicated that it was considering creating several new priority categories for access to the resettlement program, including for certain severely persecuted religious groups. The same month, President Biden signed an executive order that, among other actions, initiated a review of the Expedited Removal process, the implementation of which USCIRF has monitored under IRFA and has found inadequately protects asylum seekers. RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE ADMINISTRATION • Promptly nominate or appoint well-qualified individuals to key IRF vacancies, including the positions of ambassador-at-large for IRF, special adviser for IRF on the National Security Council (NSC) staff, special coordinator for Tibetan issues, and special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, and provide them with the financial resources and staff needed to fulfill their mandates; • Maintain the United States’ leadership roles in the Alliance and the International Contact Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief, participate in and support future Ministerials to Advance Religious Freedom, and continue to implement the executive order on “Advancing International Religious Freedom”; • Prioritize freedom of religion or belief in the United States’ renewed engagement with the UN human rights system, and work with countries, including those in the Alliance, to counter the efforts to undermine that system by states that egregiously violate religious freedom and other human rights; • Increase the use of human rights-related financial and visa authorities to impose asset freezes and/or visa bans on individuals and entities for severe religious freedom violations, citing specific abuses, and coordinate with other countries with similar sanctions regimes on such targeted sanctions whenever possible; • Review U.S. policy toward the five CPC-designated countries for which waivers on taking any action based on those designations are in place—Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan— and make appropriate policy changes to demonstrate meaningful consequences and encourage positive change; • In accordance with the definition of who constitutes a refugee in international and U.S. law, prioritize for resettlement through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) survivors of the most egregious forms of religious persecution, including Iranian religious minorities eligible for processing under the Lautenberg Amendment, members of other severely persecuted religious or belief communities, and survivors of genocide or other atrocity crimes; and • Address longstanding flaws in the treatment of asylum seekers in Expedited Removal, including by enhancing the quality and oversight of the initial processing of noncitizens, improving detention conditions, and appointing a high-level official at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to coordinate and oversee reforms. RECOMMENDATIONS TO CONGRESS • Prioritize the prompt confirmation of well-qualified nominees for key IRF positions that require Senate confirmation to avoid long vacancies in these positions; • Hold oversight hearings on U.S. IRF policy; highlight IRF issues through legislation, hearings, briefings, and other actions; and examine, during congressional delegation trips abroad, conditions for persons of all faiths and beliefs or none; prisoners of conscience through the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s (TLHRC) Defending Freedoms Project, collaborating with the International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief, and joining the U.S. House of Representatives or U.S. Senate Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism and caucuses such as the House IRF Caucus and Ahmadiyya Muslim Caucus; • As individual members of Congress, advocate for IRF by sponsoring religious • Adopt S. Res 80 to create the Senate Human Rights Commission, as a similar initiative to the House’s TLHRC, to monitor and address human rights abuses abroad, including violations of the freedom of religion or belief; and • Evaluate the policy tools available for targeted human rights-related sanctions to ensure maximum impact in curtailing abuses, and reauthorize and strengthen the Global Magnitsky sanctions regime by passing legislation like the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Reauthorization Act (S. 93). KEY USCIRF RESOURCES & ACTIVITIES • • • • • Hearing: Refugees Fleeing Religious Persecution Factsheet: Key U.S. Government IRF Positions Factsheet: United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms Event: USCIRF Conversation on The President's Executive Order on International Religious Freedom Op-Ed: Washington Must Expand the List of Sanctioned Religious Freedom Violators (in Washington Examiner) 8 USCIRF | ANNUAL REPORT 2021