Press Releases: Secretary Pompeo To Release the 2017 International Religious Freedom Report


Notice to the Press

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

May 25, 2018


U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will deliver remarks on the release of the 2017 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom (IRF) at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, in the Press Briefing Room at the U.S. Department of State.

Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback will take questions in the Briefing Room immediately following Secretary Pompeo’s remarks.

Religious freedom is both a core American value and a fundamental human right. Mandated by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the International Religious Freedom Report details the status of religious freedom in nearly 200 foreign countries and describes U.S. actions and policies in support of religious freedom worldwide.

Remarks will be open to the press. The event will be streamed live on www.state.gov.

Journalists should be seated in the State Department’s press briefing room no later than 8:45 a.m. The press briefing room is accessible from the 23rd Street Entrance of the Department.

Media representatives may attend this event upon presentation of one of the following: (1) A U.S. Government-issued identification card (Department of State, White House, Congress, Department of Defense, or Foreign Press Center); (2) a media-issued photo identification card; or (3) a letter from their employer on letterhead verifying their employment as a journalist, accompanied by a government-issued photo identification card (driver’s license, passport).

Instructions for embargoed access to the report will be sent to members of the press only, on Tuesday, May 29, at 7:30 a.m. The entire report is EMBARGOED until the press briefing begins. The report will be available to the public on State.gov at approximately 9:30 am.

For more information, please contact DRL Press at DRL-Press@state.gov. Learn more about U.S. government engagement on international religious freedom by following @State_IRF or @StateDRL on Twitter.