International Religious Freedom Summit Calls for Action Against Rising Religious Persecution

February 6, 2026

The 6th annual International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit opened earlier this week with calls to intensify global advocacy for freedom of belief in the face of rising religious restrictions and persecution worldwide.

Christianity Daily reports that IRF Summit Co-Chair Katrina Lantos Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights, said the international religious freedom movement stands at a crossroads.

Swett described a growing religious momentum as well as expanding repression faced by people of faith, saying, “More people than ever now live in countries and regions where their most fundamental conscience rights are restricted, repressed and threatened.”

Sam Brownback, who served as U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom from 2018 to 2021, described the movement as both a moral and geopolitical struggle.

Brownback stated, “Ours is truly a global movement feared by dictators around the world because we represent the heart of freedom. They actually fear religious freedom more than they do aircraft carriers or even nuclear weapons.”

According to Christianity Daily, organizers of the event say nearly 80% of the world’s population lives in countries with high levels of governmental or societal restrictions on religion, a trend that has steadily increased in recent years.

The IRF summit is guided by a charter adopted in 2021 affirming freedom of religion and conscience as universal human rights rooted in human dignity and protected under international law, including Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The organizers say their gathering is intended to strengthen cooperation among advocates and to draw global attention to religious persecution, discrimination and violence, which they describe as growing threats to social stability, human rights and peace.

Photo: top, Credit: Christian Daily International