Attendees gather Feb. 2, 2026, during the sixth annual International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington. The Feb. 2-3 summit featured a diverse coalition of faith communities, human rights organizations, policymakers, academics, experts and other influential individuals from around the globe. (OSV News photo/Matt Rybczynski, courtesy IRF Summit)
Record Displacement Crisis: Refugees Face Escalating Religious Freedom Barriers
IRF Summit panelists warn that shrinking refugee programs and flawed asylum systems are leaving persecuted religious minorities in dangerous limbo worldwide
🌍 Unprecedented Global Crisis
Record numbers of people are displaced by conflict and persecution worldwide, and they continue to face extraordinary obstacles to religious freedom as refugees—a crisis that advocacy leaders say demands urgent international response.
As the sixth annual International Religious Freedom Summit convened in Washington this week, advocates delivered a stark warning: The global refugee crisis has reached unprecedented levels, and the loss of freedoms that refugees experience regularly includes their fundamental right to religious liberty.
A Young Life in Limbo
Turkish-born Nuri Kino, a Swedish investigative journalist and human rights advocate whose family fled to Sweden when he was a toddler, told summit participants on Monday (Feb. 2) of a heartbreaking case that illustrates the crisis: a young man from Iraq who faces persecution as Swedish authorities who detained him in December ruled he could be deported.
Matthias’s Story: Fleeing ISIS at Age 9
A church leader in a small Swedish city on Dec. 14 notified Kino that officials detained a 19-year-old Christian from his high school. The organization Kino founded, A Demand For Action (ADFA), began assisting him immediately.
“Matthias was 9 years old when his father climbed to the roof of their home in Iraq, where families often sleep during the summer, and told them it was time to flee—ISIS [Islamic State] was about to take over their city,” Kino explained. “This was of course very dramatic.”
Two years later, the Iraqi family arrived in Sweden and began building a new life, Kino said. The young boy who had fled ISIS terror worked hard to integrate and excel.
The Harsh Reality for Iraqi Christians
Kino emphasized the precarious position of Christians in Iraq, even after surviving the horrors of ISIS persecution.
The Asylum System Paradox
Kino highlighted a disturbing double standard in Europe’s asylum system that prioritizes some groups over persecuted religious minorities.
The European Union Agency for Asylum recently issued new guidelines for asylum seekers, he noted. Those with links to ISIS may be granted protection in the absence of evidence of war crimes, yet Christian asylum seekers from Iraq and Syria are being deported under the same guidelines based on claims that persecution no longer exists.
⚖️ A Broken System
“Asylum systems should be thoroughly reviewed,” Kino declared. “Independent audits are needed to assess the role of subjective judgment and lack of knowledge in asylum decisions.”
He called for a new system to be implemented in which everyone has the same opportunity to be granted asylum—one based on actual persecution rather than subjective interpretations or political considerations.
U.S. Refugee Programs Under Pressure
The crisis isn’t limited to Europe. In a panel discussion on “Protecting the Persecuted on the Run” on Tuesday (Feb. 3), Asif Mahmood, Vice Chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, warned that historically robust American refugee programs have been dramatically curtailed.
Historic Low in Refugee Admissions
U.S. President Donald Trump lowered the refugee admission ceiling in October, setting the cap for FY 2026 to just 7,500—down from the 125,000 cap set for FY 2022-2025. The administration’s admission policy prioritizes white Afrikaners allegedly facing discrimination and violence in South Africa.
Mahmood noted that tens of millions of people are displaced worldwide, making the reduced U.S. capacity all the more devastating for those fleeing religious persecution.
Moral Duty to Protect the Persecuted
Temporary Protected Status at Risk
The crisis has been compounded by policy changes affecting vulnerable populations already in the United States. Refugee resettlement grants and contracts that formerly went to various public and private organizations were diverted to the Office of Refugee Resettlement in the Department of Health and Human Services under the Trump administration.
The U.S. has also temporarily removed Temporary Protected Status for refugees from various countries, in January including those from Somalia.
🆘 Rohingya Muslims in Danger
“The U.S. had given several nations, because of real danger…the protection status for the Rohingya in Burma, and so many people, Rohingya Muslims, are in huge danger,” Mahmood explained. “The Department of Homeland Security can reauthorize their temporary protection status and give them work permits until their country is back in line.”
Comprehensive Recommendations
Mahmood outlined several key policy recommendations to address the crisis:
Policy Solutions for Refugee Protection
- Prioritize resettlement for refugees fleeing countries with the most egregious forms of religious persecution
- Maintain a robust annual admission ceiling for refugee programs
- Extend Temporary Protected Status for those in real harm’s way
- Include religious freedom clauses in business contracts with other governments
- Predicate aid to countries like Nigeria and Syria on guarantees that Christians can live free of persecution and discrimination
- Conduct independent audits of asylum decision-making processes to identify bias and lack of expertise
- Implement standardized criteria for asylum that treat all applicants equally regardless of their persecutors’ identities
Protection at the Source
Mahmood emphasized that protecting religious minorities in their home countries is crucial to reducing refugee flows:
A Global Responsibility
The effort to protect persecuted refugees must extend beyond the United States, Mahmood stressed.
Religious Freedom as a Barometer
The summit’s broader discussions reinforced the connection between refugee protection and religious freedom as fundamental human rights issues.
Maureen Ferguson, commissioner for USCIRF, told summit participants that “people of faith are frequently targeted by authoritarian governments, because they can’t control the way they think and believe, because they believe in a power higher than the authority of the state.”
Scott Busby, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted: “Religious freedom is a barometer, generally I have found in my career for how other freedoms are treated similarly.”
This connection makes refugee protection not just a humanitarian issue, but a strategic priority for democracies worldwide.
The Rising Trend
🕊️ A Call for Compassion and Justice
As the IRF Summit concluded, participants left with a clear mandate: The world cannot turn its back on those fleeing religious persecution. Whether they’re 19-year-old students like Matthias, detained in Swedish immigration centers despite surviving ISIS, or Rohingya Muslims facing genocide in Burma, or Christians persecuted across the Middle East and Africa—their protection is both a moral imperative and a strategic necessity.
The question isn’t whether democratic nations can afford to help. It’s whether they can afford not to.
Next Steps: Capitol Hill Advocacy Day
Following the summit’s conclusion, participants headed to Capitol Hill for an advocacy day focused on religious prisoners of conscience and other freedom of religion or belief causes. This direct engagement with lawmakers represents the movement’s commitment to translating summit discussions into concrete policy changes.
The next IRF Summit is scheduled for February 1-2, 2027, where advocates expect to continue pressing for stronger protections for refugees fleeing religious persecution.
Sources: This article is based on reporting from the sixth annual International Religious Freedom Summit, including panel discussions on refugee protection and statements from USCIRF, ADFA, and other organizations. For more faith and freedom news, visit Faith & Freedom News.
About The Author
Discover more from Faith & Freedom News - FFN
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
