(RNS) — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has issued its annual list of countries it considers to be the most egregious violators of religious liberty and urged the new Trump administration to appoint a new ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.
The commission’s 2025 report, released on Tuesday (March 25), included a list of countries nearly identical to its 2024 list — a reflection, according to the report, that in most of those countries, things have not improved but often have worsened.
“The administration of President Donald J. Trump faces a complex international environment in which to build on its previous success of centering religious freedom as a cornerstone of foreign policy and global leadership,” reads the report. “Confirming this commitment to advancing freedom of religion or belief will require calibration and joint action with like-minded governments.”
The eight current commissioners of the bipartisan, independent agency asked Congress to halt the visits it receives from representatives of countries designated as the most egregious religious freedom violators.
“Lobbyists paid to represent the interests of governments that kill, torture, imprison, or otherwise persecute their populations because of what religion they practice or what beliefs they hold should not be welcome in the halls of Capitol Hill,” they stated.
The 2025 report also sought a successor to Rashad Hussain, whose ambassador-at-large post ended with the Biden administration. Hussain was recently announced as a distinguished senior fellow at the Institute for Global Engagement, a think tank that seeks to foster partnerships to build religious freedom.
“I think what’s critical here is an ambassador who has access, not only to Secretary (of State Marco) Rubio, but has access to the White House directly,” USCIRF Chair Stephen Schneck told RNS in an interview, though he noted that USCIRF does not play a role in the selection process for the ambassador. “It needs to be somebody, I think, of that level, given the surge of, the big uptick in violations of freedom of religion or belief around the world that we’re seeing right now.”
The bipartisan, independent commission, which was reauthorized last year by Congress through September 2026, annually recommends to the State Department a list of countries to designate as “of particular concern” for committing “systematic, egregious, and ongoing” religious freedom violations.
The 2025 report seeks the redesignation of these 12 countries: Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
It also seeks designation of four others: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Vietnam.
USCIRF sought the same redesignations and designations last year, with a request to add Azerbaijan.
This year, it requested that Azerbaijan remain on the State Department’s second-tier special watch list, along with Algeria.
