By Nicolas Kazarian

Observatoire géopolitique du religieux, IRIS, January 2016

How did you become Vice Chair and Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (2004-2012)?

I was appointed for eight years as a Commissioner, and served four consecutive two-year terms. There are nine Commissioners, who are private citizens. Three of them are always selected by the President, two are selected by the President’s party and Congress, and four are selected by Congressional leaders of the party not in the White House. I was appointed in 2004, during the Bush Administration, by Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, who was the House Minority Leader at the time; when President Obama was elected, I was reappointed for two more terms, by Nancy Pelosi, who had become the Speaker of the House..

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