Press Release | February 8, 2025 | Subscribe  

ASC attends the International Religious Summit, Washington, DC Feb 4-5, 2025!

Vice President J.D. Vance speaking on religious rights in the main ballroom at the IRF Summit.

American Sikh Council ASC) representative Kavneet Singh attended and participated in the annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit held at the Washington Hilton in downtown Washington, D.C., from Feb 4 - 5, 2025.

Over 1,350 attendees from over forty-five countries attended this important conference. The entire focus of the conference was about the impact made by various repressive ruling regimes across the globe on religious rights and freedom of expression. Also, the gathering was to energize religious groups and civil society in order to highlight the importance of religious freedom and religious plurality within various countries. More or less every major religion to the most obscure minority faiths were represented at this august forum.

Religious bigotry, erosion of religious rights, freedom of expression, surveillance of ethnic minorities, human right violations, transnational repression including outright assassinations, and much more were all covered in the various breakout sessions.

Kavneet Singh with Provincial Minister Ramesh Singh (of Panjab, Pakistan) at the IRF Summit.

Documentaries on various ongoing issues impacting different religions were screened in the evenings. Dispersed between the breakout sessions were networking gatherings being held by various groups to build bridges and allyship in order to make positive change.

There were around twenty-five exhibits, which were overwhelmingly focused on religious freedom and human rights, from all across the world.

US Vice President J. D. Vance spoke in the main ballroom on the issue of religious persecution and its importance in today’s world, even though ironically President Trump is shutting down all bodies overseeing religious persecution and human rights, including USAID.

One of the sessions on Wednesday Feb 5, was on, “The Long Shadow of Transnational Repression: A Global Threat to Human Rights Defender.” There were six speakers which included Pawanjit Singh a Sikh representative who spoke and highlighted the ongoing assassinations of Sikh activists across the diaspora and in the US. On of the other panelists, Ajit Sahi the representative for the Indian American Muslim Council - IAMC; categorically stated the need for having a bill passed in Congress to stop transnational repression against all persecuted minorities as this pernicious problem is only expanding its tentacles.

Many attendees were aware of the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada and the attempted assassination attempt on Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the US, Indian state actors. The flip side is that this actually helped in their understanding of the 15 year long sustained Sikh genocide carried out  by the Indian government.

Pawanjit Singh speaking about transnational repression and religious freedom at the panel session.

Ramesh Singh Arora the Provincial Minister for Minority Affairs for Panjab, from Pakistan, the only Sikh politician in Pakistan was invited to speak at a session on, “Building on the Success of the Global Movement.” On Wednesday Feb 5. Ramesh Singh Arora was accompanied by several of his colleagues who were Muslim, Christian, Ahmadiyya and Hindu from Pakistan for the IRF Summit. The Ahmadiyya had an exhibit highlighting the persecution in Pakistan, with plenty of literature to educate the attendees. 

Kavneet Singh with a Pakistani Christian representative at the IRF Summit.

ASC continues to work with various civil society groups and interfaith organizations while collaborating on many issues common to communities of faith, especially impacting minorities. It was heartening to see an increase in attendees and newer faces sincerely working towards making a better tomorrow, irrespective of the fact that the host nation is backtracking on all the strong support of human rights it has always been known for, the world over!

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The American Sikh Council is the umbrella organization representative of Sikhs in the United States. It is an elected body of Sikh Gurdwaras and institutions. Currently 76 Gurdwaras and other Sikh institutions across the nation are members of ASC. The major governing purpose of the organization is to represent the collective view of Sikhs in the United States. ASC works to promote Sikh interests at the national and international level focusing on issues of advocacy, education, and well-being of humankind.

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