K E Y U S C I R F R E C O M M E N DAT I O N S I M P L E M E N T E D I N 2 0 2 0 A N D E A R LY 2 0 2 1 Increasing Prioritization of Religious Freedom • The executive order on Advancing International Religious Freedom, signed by then President Donald J. Trump in June, implemented several of USCIRF’s longstanding recommendations related to the prioritization of religious freedom abroad in U.S. foreign policy. This included increasing related foreign assistance and developing an overall strategy for promoting religious freedom abroad and country-specific action plans. Filling IRF-Related Appointments • USCIRF for years had urged successive administrations to establish and fill a National Security Council (NSC) staff position dedicated to international religious freedom (IRF), as urged by IRFA and reiterated by the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016. In February 2020, the Trump administration appointed Sarah Makin-Acciani to be the first-ever senior director for IRF on the NSC staff. • USCIRF repeated its call to fill the vacancy for a special coordinator for Tibetan issues during 2020. In October, the Trump administration appointed then Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Robert A. Destro to serve concurrently as the special coordinator for Tibetan issues, which had been vacant since January 2017. Increasing the Refugee Ceiling • In recent years, USCIRF has consistently called for a return of the annual refugee resettlement ceiling to the previously established level of 95,000. In February 2021, President Joseph R. Biden announced his intent to raise the refugee ceiling to 125,000 for FY 2022, which begins on October 1, 2021. The Biden administration also notified Congress that it intended to raise the refugee ceiling for FY 2021 to 62,500 from 15,000. Raising IRF Issues in Bilateral and Multilateral Engagement • In certain contexts, USCIRF has recommended that the U.S. administration raise religious freedom issues consistently in its bilateral engagement. In line with these recommendations, U.S. government officials raised concerns with their counterparts in many countries, including Eritrea, Iraq, Sudan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Sustained U.S. attention likely contributed to or encouraged tangible actions and/or improvements to religious freedom conditions in some of these countries. This includes the government of Eritrea’s eased restrictions on the Baha’i and Jewish communities and the Greek Orthodox Church, the government of Sudan’s invitation to the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur for freedom of religion or belief to visit the country and assess religious freedom conditions, and the government of Uzbekistan’s ongoing work to revise the 1998 religion law to comply with international human rights standards. • USCIRF provided suggestions to the U.S. government for opportunities to guide foreign countries toward improving religious freedom conditions. This included, for example, USCIRF’s recommendations that the administration continue to provide guidance and training for Bahrain’s security services to prepare for Ashura 92 U S C I R F | A N N U A L R E P O R T 2 0 2 1 observances in ways that protect observers’ religious freedom rights and minimize the potential for the outbreak of violence. As detailed in the Introduction to this report, Shi’a Muslims in Bahrain were generally able to observe the Ashura holiday in 2020. • USCIRF has recommended that the U.S. government encourage foreign governments to create positions like the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism and also urge the UN to create a position to engage with Jewish communities and monitor antisemitism globally. Pursuant to these recommendations and resulting U.S. government action, Canada, the Netherlands, and Romania created such positions in 2020. Further, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Spanish diplomat Miguel Ángel Moratinos as the UN Focal Point in charge of monitoring antisemitism and enhancing a system-wide response to global antisemitism. • USCIRF recommended that the U.S. government support the UN Alliance of Civilization in the implementation of the UN Plan of Action to Safeguard Holy Sites. In January 2021, the United States supported a UN General Assembly resolution condemning attacks on religious sites. Among its provisions, this resolution called on UN member states and other stakeholders to support the continued implementation of this plan. Advocating for Religious Prisoners of Conscience • USCIRF has recommended that U.S. government officials and members of Congress press foreign governments for the release of religious prisoners of conscience (RPOCs). Pursuant to this recommendation, U.S. officials actively engaged on RPOC cases around the globe. This included drawing attention to RPOCs and prison conditions in engagement with their foreign counterparts, including in Eritrea and Uzbekistan, two countries where RPOCs were released during 2020. High-level engagement by Trump administration officials on this issue included then Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo welcoming the release of Roberto Quiñones, an independent journalist in Cuba imprisoned for reporting on religious freedom issues, and then Ambassador-at-Large for IRF Samuel D. Brownback drawing attention to the plight of RPOCs during the coronavirus pandemic. Members of Congress also actively advocated for the release of RPOCs, including by adopting RPOCs through the Defending Freedoms project, pushing for the release of Iranian RPOCs, and holding a hearing to pressure Saudi Arabia to release prisoners of conscience, including Raif Badawi and his counsel Waleed Abu al-Khair. Increasing Aid to Support Religious Freedom and Religious Minorities • Several of USCIRF’s recommendations regarding the U.S. government increasing aid to support religious freedom and religious monitories were implemented in 2020. Examples where such support occurred include the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) providing $38 million dollars in aid to support religious and ethnic minorities with reconstruction efforts in northern Iraq and $356.2 million to help stabilize Sudan’s economy. Designating Uyghur Genocide • In June, USCIRF warned that the Chinese government’s repressive population control measures against Uyghurs and other Turkic