Source: www.uscirf.gov
Date: January 10, 2024
 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Hearing Religious Freedom in Southeast Asia: Techno-Authoritarianism and Transnational Influences Thursday, January 25, 2024 3:30 -5:00 PM ET Virtual Register Here Please join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for a virtual hearing on how Southeast Asian countries use techno-authoritarianism to undermine religious freedom and are increasingly borrowing such tactics from China and Saudi Arabia. Despite growing civil society activism and economic development in recent decades, religious freedom conditions throughout Southeast Asia continue to stagnate or, in many places, decline. With the rise of technology and digital surveillance, alongside other transnational influences from outside the region, religious freedom is under increasing threat. The Burmese military disseminates hate speech and calls for widespread violence through social media to perpetrate atrocities against the predominantly Muslim Rohingya. In Indonesia, blasphemy charges increasingly cite social media as the source of the offending incident. Across Southeast Asia as a whole, transnational influences from outside the region threaten to change the political and legal landscape with major consequences for religious freedom and related human rights. The first panel will discuss trends in technology and digital surveillance throughout Southeast Asia impacting religious freedom. The second panel will discuss transnational influences from outside of Southeast Asia, such as China and Saudi Arabia, that seek to fundamentally alter the religious freedom landscape. Opening Remarks
*NOTE: Witnesses to be added.
This hearing is open to Members of Congress, congressional staff, the public, and the media. Members of the media should register online and can email |