Washington DC, USA (us.gov.krd) – Representative Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman and the staff of the Representation welcomed a delegation from the KRG Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs to Washington, DC.

Salah Ali and Amir Mawlud, senior officials from the Ministry, were joined by Farhad Kakai, a civil-society advocate for the Kakayi faith in Kurdistan, at the Representation.

The Representative and delegation attended a three-day conference titled the International Religious Freedom (IRF) Summit, hosted by Sam Brownback, former Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom at the State Department. The conference was addressed by American leaders, including the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of State, as well as faith leaders and activists for persecuted religious minorities from around the world. Yezidi and Assyrian representatives were also present.

The IRF Summit 2022 brought together a broad coalition that supports religious freedom around the globe for an in-person gathering that helped raise the profile of various issues related to the freedom of worship, including blasphemy laws, illegal harvesting of human organs, and the singling out of women among persecuted minorities.