Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List (USCIRF)

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USCIRF’s FoRB Victims List

This is the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) Freedom of Religion or Belief Victims List, or FoRB Victims List. The FoRB Victims List is a database that catalogues select victims targeted due to their freedom of religion or belief. LEGISLATION USCIRF is mandated to maintain the FoRB Victims List. This mandate is provided for in the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (IRFA), as amended by the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016. Under this law, USCIRF is required to: “make publicly available to the extent practicable, … lists of persons [USCIRF] determines are imprisoned or detained, have disappeared, been placed under house arrest, been tortured, or subjected to forced renunciations of faith for their religious activity or religious freedom advocacy by the government of a foreign country that [USCIRF] recommends for designation as a country of particular concern for religious freedom… or by a nonstate actor that [USCIRF] recommends for designation as an entity of particular concern for religious freedom…” Under IRFA, USCIRF uses international standards in its work, including in the FoRB Victims List. USCIRF uses the terms religious freedom, freedom of religion, and freedom of religion or belief interchangeably to refer to the broad right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion or belief protected under international human rights law. The primary international provisions guaranteeing this right are Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. For more information and description of the methodology used to compile the List, visit the About USCIRF Victims List page.