The annual ritual of monitoring religious freedom issue in several countries and releasing a report, only contributes towards deepening mistrust between the US and several other countries, some of them strategic partners of the US.
New Delhi: The 2025 annual report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released in March 2025 provides enough reason for the Trump Administration to dissolve this Commission.
This annual ritual of monitoring religious freedom issue in several countries and releasing a report that only contributes towards deepening mistrust between the US and several other countries, some of them strategic partners of the US, should be put to an end by President Donald J. Trump. It will be in keeping with Trump 2.0 administration’s stated policy of cleaning up the deep state and doing away
The Trump White House has taken a strong stand against illegal immigrants and has taken the bold step to downsize the USAID and its activities around the world with a view to cutting expenditure and erasing some “corrupt” practices. Contrary to the US administration’s resolute step to wind up several US operations abroad and save the taxpayers’ hard-earned money, the USCIRF report of March 2025 has recommended the administration to develop “a working group in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Bureau of Democracy, Rights, and Governance to deploy the BRIDGES religious community engagement strategy begun and then developed in the last two administrations”.
President Trump appears single-minded to refrain from playing the role of a global policeman. He is trying to play the role of a peacemaker and not war-monger. His proactive involvement in ending the Ukraine War, turn US ties with Russia into a cooperative friendship and his efforts, both overt and behind the scene, to bring back stability in West Asia are being carefully watched around the world.
While establishing a Department of Government Efficiency, reforming the bureaucracy, and focusing on economic growth at home and engagements abroad, it is surprising that President Trump’s advisors have not drawn his attention to CIRF which has not done anything that would have positively contributed to Washington’s foreign engagements. Moreover, it has done little to safeguard US national security. On the contrary, it seeks to promote distrust between the US and many countries around the world. No country wants the USCIRF to judge the state of its religious freedom and rather strongly criticises the biased information published by the commission every year. More significantly, the commission’s recommendations are only advisory in nature and the US State Department rarely implements the recommendations. What then is the use of such a commission that makes unilateral judgments on religious freedom in numerous countries and negatively impacts US foreign relations?
The latest report of the USCIRF, for instance, has drawn the ire of the Indian Government as reflected in the strong reaction of the Ministry of External Affairs. The MEA spokesperson, taking a dig at the report’s recommendation to designate India as a “country of particular concern” said that the USCIRF should rather be designated as an “entity of concern”, further commenting that the report “once again continues its pattern of issuing biased and politically motivated assessments.”
One of the most provocative recommendations to the US administration in the 2025 report is to “impose targeted sanctions on individuals and entities, such as Vikash Yadav and RAW, for their culpability in severe violations of religious freedom by freezing their assets and/or barring their entry into the United States.” Such a view of the commission has the potential to inspire and encourage religious extremists, some of whom are moving freely in the US and misusing the freedom of speech practised in the democratic polity of the United States. Worse, the report recommends that the US Congress should “conduct a review assessing whether arms sales to India, such as MQ-9B Drones under Section 36 of the Arms Export Control Act, may contribute to or exacerbate religious freedom violations.” The commission appears to be going beyond its mandate and acting as a more powerful body than the US executive and legislative offices by issuing verdicts on intelligence and defence matters.
The close advisors of the Trump Administration apparently have not read the recommendations of the 2025 CIRF report. If they have done so, they should have noted some of the recommendations that are against the grain of President Trump’s foreign policy agenda. While President Trump wants to rid the US of illegal immigrants, taking strong actions against any violation of visa rules even by citizens from the UK and Germany, restricting H1B visas, and discouraging the asylum seekers, the CIRF 2025 report recommends: “Resettle refugees who have fled countries with the most egregious forms of religious persecution, in cooperation with like-minded countries and through the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and other humanitarian protection programs, and maintain a robust annual USRAP admissions ceiling for refugees in order to contribute to alleviating the ongoing crisis involving around 43.7 million refugees worldwide—many of whom escaped religious persecution.”
President Trump has already taken action to withdraw the United States from the UN Human Rights Council. He had taken this step during his first term in office, but the Biden Administration rejoined the Council. In less than two weeks after assuming office, President Trump on 2 February 2025 withdrew from the UNHRC yet again and ended funding to this body. In March, the following month, the CIRF report urges the US administration to “deepen vital U.S. leadership and/or engagement on religious freedom with entities such as the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council…”
There is little doubt that recommendations of the CIRF will have no takers in the corridors of power in Washington. It is high time the advisors of President Trump take note of the existence of a commission on international religious freedom that has done little to serve the interests of the United States, but has certainly played a role in creating dissonance between the US and several countries. If the commission continues under Trump 2.0 administration, the MEA in India should consider maintaining studied silence and not responding to any future reports by the CIRF.
* Chintamani Mahapatra is Founder Chairperson of KIIPS and Editor of India Quarterly.