International Religious Freedom Report, 2021

• The 2021 report on International Religious Freedom (IRF) was released by the US State Department.

• This document is separate from the IRF report released by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom.

• The USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan federal government entity, while the IRF is part of the US State Department. The earlier report has a statutory place.

• In 1998, the then US President Bill Clinton signed the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA, 1998).

• The act created the Office of International Religious Freedom under the US government's State Department headed by an Ambassador-at-Large and established the American Commission on International Religious Freedom.