By Nick Mordowanec Published March 16, 2026 at 5:00 AM EDT Dr. Gulshan Abbas, 63, a retired physician and ethnic Uyghur, was disappeared by Chinese authorities in September 2018 in China’s western region of Xinjiang, after her sister, Rushan Abbas, publicly spoke out against the Chinese Communist Party’s oppression of Uyghurs. Gulshan’s family was unaware of her whereabouts until December 2020, when it was learned that a secret trial had taken place in March 2019 declaring Gulshan guilty for “ta... Read more

By Roger A. Agana Published March 11, 2026 A senior United States congressman has called on Washington to deploy every diplomatic and economic tool available after a landmark federal commission flagged 18 countries as the world’s most severe violators of religious freedom. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2026 Annual Report on March 4, documenting violations throughout 2025 and setting out policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State... Read more

By News Ghana Published March 5, 2026 A bipartisan congressional commission held a hearing in Washington on Thursday calling on the Trump administration to use its 2026 Group of Twenty (G20) presidency to champion religious freedom and free speech, with particular focus on the mass killing of Christians in Nigeria and the growing threat of state-sponsored censorship globally. The hearing, convened by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, explored how the Trump administration can elevate human ... Read more

By Kate Scanlon Published March 5, 2026 at 7:54 PM WASHINGTON (OSV News) — The U.S. presidency of the Group of 20, a forum for cooperation among the world’s largest economies, is an opportunity to advance human rights, advocates said at a congressional hearing March 5. The U.S. assumed the rotating presidency of the forum, sometimes called the G20, in December. The 2026 summit is scheduled to be held in Miami in December. Reps. Chris Smith, R-N.J. and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., both Catholics and co... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC), and Claire Lai, daughter of Jimmy Lai, sat down with host Raymond Arroyo on EWTN's The World Over with Raymond Arroyo to discuss the latest on Jimmy Lai's incarceration in Hong Kong, and the hope that diplomatic pressure will continue to be applied by the US and UK governments to eventually secure Jimmy's release from prison in Hong Kong. The full interview can be viewed by clicking here. ### Read more

By Ezinwanne Onwuka Published February 26, 2026 The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is urging Congress to ban the world’s religion bullies from hiring lobbyists to spin their false narratives. Case in point is Nigeria’s $9 million lobbying contract in Washington intended to downplay its Christian-persecution problem. Nigeria’s CPC Status and Lobbying Contract Nigeria signed a six-month, $9 million contract with Washington lobbying firm DCI Group amid height... Read more

Press Release by the House Committee on Appropriations Published Monday, February 23, 2026 Following President Trump’s call-to-action and redesignation of Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC), the House Appropriations Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee delivered a joint report on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria to the White House. The findings follow a comprehensive investigation that included interviews with expert witnesses, a hearing and roundtable, two on-the-... Read more

By Hannah Hiester Published February 19, 2026 Sixty members of Congress filed an amicus brief with a Louisiana district court Feb. 13 supporting a lawsuit that challenges the Biden-era Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) 2023 decision to drop in-person dispensing requirements for the abortion pill mifepristone. Those supporting Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill’s case against the FDA include Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who is a physician and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, a... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee, sat down with journalist Hariana Verás Victória to discuss the findings of his latest congressional hearing on the DRC-Rwanda conflict and the implementation of President Trump’s “Washington Accords.” Rep. Smith also detailed his decades-long work as a lawmaker on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Africa Subcommittee to advocate for an end to the violence and fighting in the region. The full interview ... Read more

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), the Co-Chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China and a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sat down with host Catherine Hadro on EWTN News In Depth to discuss the cruel sentencing of Jimmy Lai, a pro-democracy advocate and media entrepreneur, who has been unjustly imprisoned by Hong Kong authorities at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party on fraudulent, politically-motivated charges. The full interview can be viewed by clicking here... Read more