Fight for International Religious Freedom Likely to Continue Under President Biden
01/12/2021 United States (International Christian Concern) – As the United States moves from the Trump presidency to the Biden administration, speculation circulates among various stakeholders about what the Biden team will set as priorities for the nation. While several domestic and international policy positions will see dramatic change, several policy experts believe that the Biden team will continue to build on the international religious freedom legacy of the Trump administration.
Gayle Machin, who serves as the Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), shared in an interview with Christian Post that she believes Biden will be “just as strong” as Trump on religious freedom issues going forward. The commission serves as a watchdog organization on international religious freedom conditions around the world and advises the executive branch and Congress on matte
The First IRF Priority for the Biden Administration
Benjamin Harbaugh – Last month, I wrote an article detailing my thoughts on what the incoming Biden Administration might mean for international religious freedom (IRF). In short, I believe that President-elect Biden has the opportunity to strengthen and advance IRF as a bipartisan issue. With that in mind, what should the top priority be for Biden’s IRF appointees? I propose that the new IRF picks should focus their initial efforts on Nigeria an alarming example of increasing religious violence.
Nigeria was designated for the first time as a “Country of Particular Concern” (CPC) by the State Department earlier this month.[1] As such, it joins the unenviable ranks of countries such as China, North Korea, Iran and others.[2] A country is designated as a CPC for “engaging in or tolerating ‘systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom.’”[3] This was a big win for IRF advocates working on Nigeria as gr