"Here, most people fled before ISIL came in and the ones left under ISIL control were not available to people. Just now in Mosul, we're just learning about the extent of the brutality of what was going on under ISIL's control," he explained. "So we didn't have the same information available."
Former Secretary Kerry "really deserves the credit for this finding," he continued, noting that the U.S. "had already been acting as if there was such a finding" by intervening to send supplies to Yazidis cut off from food and water on Mt. Sinjar in August of 2014, and establishing a military coalition to counter the Islamic State.
The global state of religious freedom is still dire, he insisted, noting that three-fourths of the world's population still lives in countries like China, India, and Pakistan where freedom of religion is significantly restricted.
In these countries "religious communities, particularly religious minorities, still face significant threats from social hostilities, from other religious groups, or repressive actions of the government in controlling what they can say or how they can worship or what they can do as part of their religious communities," he said, giving examples of anti-blasphemy laws, onerous registration requirements for minority religions, and laws prohibiting conversion.
An increase in its budget and staff has boosted the office's efforts, Saperstein noted. In his two years as ambassador, he said the office's budget doubled, its "programmatic money quintupled," and its staff doubled in size.
The Office on Religion and Global Affairs also has done key work in studying "the role of religion" in all areas of life from public policy to economics to "conflict resolution," he said.
"You ended up with a situation at the end of this administration where there were some 50 people working day in and day out on nothing other than religious issues in the United States government," he said. "It's probably more dedicated staff just to that issue than all the governments of the world put together" on international religious freedom.
"That's quite a vote of confidence as to the importance of religious issues in the United States," he added, noting that "across the globe…many of the cardinals and bishops that I met with were very encouraged" by this.
And the State Department has crafted an "international coalition" to help genocide victims resettle in their homes, stay where they currently are like in Iraqi Kurdistan, or move elsewhere, he said. "The UN is playing a key role in achieving that with significant American support."
The coalition is dealing with issues like "security measures" for genocide victims to live peacefully, "economic development" in the region, empowering them to have a role in rebuilding Iraq, preserving their cultures, and punishing the perpetrators of genocide.
Matt Hadro was the political editor at Catholic News Agency through October 2021. He previously worked as CNA senior D.C. correspondent and as a press secretary for U.S. Congressman Chris Smith.