David saperstein is the state departments ambassador at large for International Religious freedom. He spoke at an event hosted by Georgetown Universitys religious freedom project here in weeksy where he highlighted the efforts of his department in providing aid and support to displaced communities escaping the threat of isis. Ladies and gentlemen, im honored to introduce to you the man who heads the american effort to advance International Religious freedom. Ambassador at large David Saperstein. Ambassador saperstein is the fourth person to hold this vitally important position which was created by the International Religious freedom act of 1998 or as we refer to it as the erfa. The erfa requires the government of the United States to advance religious freedom in its foreign policy. The ambassador and his office at the state department are the executive agents of that policy as we say stops with them. The ambassador for religious freedom is confirmed by the senate. He is the official charged with carrying out u. S. Policy, the one who travels the world representing the United States, its government and its people to defend those persecuted for their religious beliefs and to advance the institutions and habits of religious freedom. Ambassador saperstein was confirmed by the senate in december 2014 and assumed his duties on january 6th, 2015. Prior to becoming ambassador at large he served for 40 years as the director of the religious Action Center of reformed judaism. Overseeing the National Social justice programming for the largest segment of american your, a rabbi and an attorney for 35 years rabbi saperstein taught seminars and First Amendment church and state law and in jewish law here at Georgetown University law school, law center. In 1999 David Saperstein was elected by his peers as the first chair of the u. S. Commission on International Religious freedom, a separate and independent body also created by the erfa charged, among other things, with producing policy recommendations on this issue for the president and the congress and the department of state. When ambassador when david became the first chair. Commission back if i guess it was 1998 or 99 is when i met him. I quickly came to have a deep respect and affection for this man. He is savvy. Persuasive, courageous. Most importantly hes a man of his word. As ambassador he has adopted an aggressive travel schedule to visit the dins of persecution. To urge governments to stop persecution and advance religious freedom and to give hope to the persecutor. David saperstein played an instrumental role in ensuring that the United States government made the correct decision and declared what is happening in iraq and syria as genocide. I was proud to support him in the position he now serves with such distinction, and im proud to call him friend. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the u. S. Ambassador for International Religious freedom, the honorable David Saperstein. [ applause ] well, its an honor to hold this position, tom, and its honored to be here to address this distinguished group of leaders. I will say in the entire work since i have been part of it from the beginning, the three constants all of my work have been tom farr, frank wolf and chris smith, two of whom are here today, and they are both great heros in the cause for religious freedom so thank you for what you do. And i want to thank the religious freedom project at the Berkeley Center for cosponsoring this meeting today and part of our ongoing and Productive Partnership with you, tom, and with rfp. The project does serious work, and today we are talking about the most serious of topics, so your excellencies, your graces, fellow ambassadors, ladies, gentlemen and i can say with a great deal of pride a lot of friends in this room, i am deeply honored to be here. Many of you have risked your lives to help victims of dash violence. While many others have spent your lives fighting against a hateful ideologies of intolerance from fueled daeshs rise. What you have done against many vital ways by forging interreligion to promote human rights, tolerance and peace, both here in the United States and across the globe and in the near east. Too many of you are victims of daesh or groups like it. As we all know on march 17th secretary of state john kerry, who cares about this issue deeply made the historic announcement that in his judgment daesh, and im quoting now, daesh is responsible for genocide in groups in areas under its control, including yidsies, christians and shia muslims. He said that daesh is, quote, also responsible for crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing directed at these same groups and in some cases against sunni muslims, kurds, other minorities. And he put it plainly when he said daeshs genocidal by selfproclamation, by ideology and by its actions in what it says, what it believes, what it does. The fact is that daesh kills christians because they are christians. Yazidis because they are yazidis and shia because they are shia. A report to congress. We deservedly describe daeshs abuses in the starkest terms we could. Not a terribly difficult task given the heinous atrocities daesh continues to perpetrate against so many. Amongst those we named were unlawful forced displace president , forced religious conversions, slavery, kidnapping, trafficking, sexual violence, resulting in wide scale fatalities and injuries, victims including women and children come from across the spectrum of ethnic and religious groups, including yazidis, sunni muslims, shia muslims, christians, turkimen, shabiat, kakai among others. Daesh has used public beheadings and other forms of summary executions, kidnapping, rape, forced marriage and sexual slavery, employed child soldiers from amongst its open recruits as well as captured children. Daesh alsoance this to attack places of worship, schools and public assessments. European parliament, the council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly and others have helped focus full global attention on the plight of religious and ethnic minorities under daerks but these must become more than just statements. There must be actions to implement the goals that all of us share in common. Secretary kerry in a statement challenged the world to, quote, find the resources to help those armed by these atrocities and last weeks pledging conference, and this conference of the delegations from 30 countries and International Organizations gathered today and then in a closed meeting tomorrow or focus on producing those financial and political and programmatic resources. So at the conference last week. An additional 590 million was pledged for humanitarian assistance and 350 million pledged for critical stabilization efforts. Under the new u. N. Program the financial facility, for immediate stabilization, their is 25 million pledged and for the new program, the midlength program here, the the financial facility for expanded stabilize, the United States began the pledging with 50 million of its own with many promising that they would come back with the plejts from their country and 200 million already pledged in 2017 and 2018 and much more to come. 80 million just for the defining that is so. So are cop convenience these meetings today and tomorrow try to answer that call. To find ways to relose religious and ethnic minorities in iraq and syria and what were learned from the conversations weve already had and the rich conversations promised in the rest of the afternoon here will be vital to our deliberations tomorrow. We are deeply appreciative. I have to say, tom, where is tom . He is right here. I have to say, tom, that you folks do great conferences. This really has been one of the most fascinating, rich and fruitful conversations that ive been part of, and i really want to thank you for the extraordinary effort that you have done. State department and special advisers for religious minorities in the near east and South Central ail somewhat, as it was explained early this morning. Spain and jordan as a follow up to the french let former minister Laurent Fabian and to be clear were concerned about all who have suffered under daeshs rein of terror and at the same time this conference represents, we recognize a potential existential threat that daesh presents to minority communities. Weve seen so much forces at work in iraq. The Yazidi Christian and some. Shyial countries are under enormous pressure to survive. There were struggles daily under daeshs efforts at ethnic cleansing. Some virtually extinction in their homeland. We garret to fight for regular support it because its a core fundamental human right and also because respect for religion freedom is instrumental to peace and security around the world no. Nation can fulfill its potential if its people are denied the right to exercise their freedom of religion or belief, for can it have the sine qua non for peace, advancement and democratization. Nation as driven by sectarian division, sectarian violence, and if members of some groups simply because of their religious identity or practices are declared functionally or by law to be second class citizens. All that does is drive religious life underground resulting in frustration, despair and anger, providing Fertile Ground with seeds of violent extreme can be sowed and followers recruited and supported. And furthermore, as this conference illustrates just looking around the room and listening to the diverse views from the questions and comments from the floor, this gathering testifies to the power of what happens when people of different backgrounds, different perspectives, different identities come together with a common purpose as a richness of americas contribution to the world. This nation that sociologists tell us embodies 2,000 different religions, denominations, faith groups, sects all across america. And our ability to live together in comity and to forge common interfaith approaches to the problems that face us is a rich model for others. But we do so not just by its effectiveness because of the fundamental reality that in any country, in any society, if any group can be persecuted then all are endangered. There cannot be safety and security for the religious freedoms of some groups if others are denied, and that requires sometimes compromises of how to proceed together. Finding common ground, even amongst our differences. Now tragically daesh and other violent extremist groups in iraq and syria continue to target members of religious and ethnic minorities with violence. Women from all communities in daeshoccupied areas are subject to severe restrictions on freedom of movement, employment and dress, often trapped indoors out of fear for personal safety. Sunni muslims who disagree with these terrorist extremist religious interpretations to justify their bloodthirsty power seeking have also suffered barbaric violence. Throughout the areas controlled by daesh, religious, cultural and historical sites affiliated with people of many faiths and cultures have been systematically looted and destroyed. The latter abuses lead to daesh selling priceless antiquities, to restock their coffers. In response, we are pursuing multiple efforts to assist minority communities including documentation of atrocity support for efforts aimed at accountability, for person traitors of this unlawful violence, services for survivors of genderbased violence, preservation of Cultural Heritage and inclusive peace building. We want to help recreate the conditions where religious and ethnic minorities feel confident in their future in iraq and syria. Our vision is of a sovereign united iraq in which these historic communities can remain in and return to their ancestral homes in safety, dignity and prosperity and so to our vision is for a none sectarian the demands on the what are we doing to achieve that goal and what progress is being made . So let me list some of the answers to that question . First and foremost, daesh must be defeated and the efforts of the government of iraq, vetted Opposition Forces in syria, together with the 67member counter isil coalition are conducting a Robust Campaign of coordinated air strikes, military training and assistance and diplomatic engagement and cooperation and messaging coordination to degrade, delegitimize and defeat daesh. The coalition is conducted more than 14,000 air strikes against daesh in iraq and syria, eliminating thousands of its fighters, cutting off Key Communications hubs and transit routes, significantly weakening daeshs finances. For example, daeshs production of oil has declined by about 30 and indeed their ability to generate revenue in general in areas under their control has been reduced by at least that much. Strikes on cash storage sites have destroyed tens of millions of daeshs cash. Weve also worked to cut off the illicit sale of antiquities. Due to the increasing financial pressure, daesh has reportedly cut its fighters pay by half in some areas, turned to increasingly arbitrary extortion rackets to undermine its credibility and increasing desertions. Efforts to support iraqi forces military advancement on the ground have resulted in daesh being pushed out for nearly half. Territory it once held in iraq about 20 of what it held earlier in syria. We have brought military power to bear to assist religious minorities directly as well. Two examples that most of you know stand out are air strikes in august 2014 to relieve the siege on mt. Sinjar that saved the lives of thousands of yazidis, and the air strikes in march 2015 that enabled a syrian and syriankurdish Defence Forces to reverse a dash advance in the river valley in syria that threatened predominantly syrian christian villages. Danger still exists, as all of us know. Weve seen it even recently with the multiple attacks in syria, the most recent in june targeted patriarchic and the head of the seeriac orthodox church, the Syrian Church of the east bishop in hassakah on the commemoration of an atrocity committed 100 years ago. The attack on the clergy was thingfully unsuccessful but tragically three guards were killed, and in general too many are still suffering. Yazidi women and children still held in captivity, millions. Idps between the two countries displaced from their homes mourning the lives the loss of their loved ones because of daeshs reign of terror, but were making progress at defeating daesh and pushing them out and liberating territories and mostly yazidi and muslim, majority areas and we look forward to the future liberation of lands belonging to christians and other indigenous communities and that day is approaching. Second, even why we need to secure their rights and opportunities we must stabilize the opposition of members of displaced communities whom we are asking to wait until they can safely return. Until then they need stability, a quality of life, a feeling of personal security that provides them with the willingness to remain in the country and to return to their homes when they decide to do so. We need to help ensure that their kids have schools to go to, jobs when they graduate and there are Economic Opportunities for families. Were engaged in efforts to ensure that those who survive daeshs abuse in captivity are provided support, including psychological and Health Services that they need to recover their resilience as well as the livelihood opportunities to support their families and themselves, to rebuild their lives. Were taking action now through the genderbased violence Emergency Response and Protection Initiative which provides funds for immediate medical, psychological and social support to survivors of genderbased violence including those subjected to daeshs brutal treatment. We acknowledge that these services may not yet have reached the victims in a number of areas, and were trying all the time to support ngos that are involved in providing these services in much wider areas. This fund is a Public Private partnership that can accept contributions from other countries. Were also providing support for implementation of iraqs National Action plan on women, peace and security, and one more example. The United States provided 18 million in fiscal year 2015, continuing this year, to the International Organization for migration, the iom in iraq, to provide livelihood support for vulnerable displaced iraqis, conduct Rapid Response and assessments of newly displaced population, complete communityled programs designed to reduce tensions and enhance integration through its Community Revitalization program, and i they most of you know the challenges that the displaced communities face in terms. Provision of schools for their kids. As part of this program iom has been able to expand and renovate seven primary and secondary schools throughout the Iraqi Kurdistan region which will which will allow thousands of idp and Host Community children access to in education. This is an important start. Much more needs to be done in this regard. Now, obviously the liberation of mosul will produce enormous new challenges. This was addressed a couple of times in our earlier conversation through and in that challenge, those challenges must be addressed in the planning that is taking place along with the military planning. T