; Whereas according to the same Pew Research Center Study, the two geographic regions with the highest government restrictions continue to be the Middle East-North Africa and the Asia-Pacific; Whereas the most recent data reflects that in 2015 Christians were harassed in 128 of 198 countries, more than any other faith group, Muslims were harassed in 125 countries, and Jews were harassed in 74 countries; Whereas according to a 2017 report by the Religious Freedom Institute and the Center on Faith & International Affairs, the scope of religious persecution globally affects many religious communities, it is Christian minorities that are currently most at risk, particularly in the Middle East, where ancient communities are in danger of elimination; Whereas Congress has recognized that Yezidis, Christian, Shi’a and other religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria have faced genocide and other crimes against humanity perpetuated by ISIS, and that some of these minority faiths are on the verge of extinction in Iraq; Whereas Egyptian Coptic Christians have been repeatedly targeted and their aggressors have gone unprosecuted, including two suicide bombings that killed 44 people at Coptic churches on Palm Sunday 2017 and an attack in December 2016 killing 24 and injuring numerous other Coptic worshipers, many of whom were women and children; Whereas according to the bipartisan United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Burmese Christians and Muslim communities have faced extraordinary persecution from both government and non-state actors, including incidents of intimidation and violence; the forced relocation and destruction of religious sites; violent attacks by mobs and the military; sexual violence and trafficking in persons; and an ongoing campaign of coerced conversion to Buddhism