USCIRF defines international religious freedom, or Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), as “the right to believe or not believe as one’s conscience leads, and live out one’s beliefs openly, peacefully, and without fear.” This further expands to include the freedoms to convert religions, attend or provide religious teachings, and more. Here at Jubilee, we find these rights to be the founding principle for our work, both domestically and globally. We work to promote international religious freedom in many ways, including writing reports and newsletters on the status of persecution in other nations, assisting individuals, families, and refugees seeking asylum from religious persecution, encouraging Congress and USCIRF officials to advocate on behalf of religious prisoners, and providing necessary materials and legal services to such prisoners.
International Religious Freedom
Jubilee Campaign engages directly with the US Government by visiting Senators and Members of Congress to update them on important IRF issues. Following the transition into the new Biden presidential administration, we met virtually with congressional freshmen with the following document, which outlines the religious freedom conditions in the countries listed on the right.
Afghanistan, Algeria, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Iran, Laos, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, & Vietnam
Lobbying in Congress and the Senate
Jubilee Campaign, as a participating member of the IRF Roundtable’s Congressional Working Group, lobbies for the passage of Senate and House resolutions regarding human rights and religious freedom issues.
H.Res.543 – Stand with Hong Kong Resolution
S.1369 – Vietnam Human Rights Sanction Act of 2019
H.Res.512 – Calling for the global repeal of blasphemy, heresy, and apostasy laws
S.3744 – Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act
S.3819 – Protecting Human Rights During Pandemic Act
H.Res.6210 – Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act
H.Res.1216 – Supporting the #EndSARS Peaceful Protest Movement in Nigeria
H.Res.49 – Supporting Coptic Christians in Egypt
H.Res.8744 – Rohingya Genocide Determination Act of 2020
H.Res.134 – Condemning the Military Coup in Burma (Myanmar)
H.Res.640 – Condemning the Global Persecution of Christians
Religious Prisoners of Conscience Working Group
Jubilee Campaign, as a co-chair organization of the IRF Roundtable’s Religious Prisoners of Conscience Working Group, visits with US representatives to ask them to ‘adopt’ a prisoner of conscience; in other words, to advocate for his or her release.
In 2020, Jubilee Campaign met personally with Congressman Glenn Grothman (WI-06) to ask him to ‘adopt’ Vietnamese prisoner of conscience, Pastor A Dao. Following the adoption, Rep. Grothman co-authored an op-ed calling for Pastor A Dao’s release; he was released less than one month later.
