Washington, D.C. – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today released its 20th Annual Report documenting country conditions in, and analyzing and recommending U. S. policy initiatives toward, the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.
USCIRF, as an independent, bi-partisan commission, advises the President, Congress and the Secretary of State on international religious freedom issues. In its Annual Report, USCIRF unflinchingly describes threats to religious freedom around the world and recommends to the State Department countries for designation as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) for engaging in or tolerating “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations.” USCIRF also recommends to the State Department that non-state actors cited for similarly severe violations be designated as “entities of particular concern” (EPCs). This year, USCIRF has recommended 16 countries for CPC designation and five entities for EPC designation. Also, USCIRF placed 12 countries on its Tier 2 list, meaning the violations meet one or two, but not all three, of the elements of the systematic, ongoing, egregious test for CPC status.
“In addition to insights on religious freedom conditions in these 28 countries, the Annual Report provides actionable policy recommendations for Congress and the Administration to help improve conditions abroad where people are being persecuted for their religion or belief,” said USCIRF Chair Tenzin Dorjee.“Our goal is not only to call out the offenders, but to provide concrete actions for the U.S. government to take in working with these countries to get off our lists.”
The 16 countries USCIRF recommended for CPC designation include 10 that the State Department so designated in November 2018 – Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan – as well as six others that the State Department has not designated – Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria, Russia, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
The 12 countries on USCIRF’s Tier 2 list are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, and Turkey.
The five entities recommended for EPC designation include the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Taliban in Afghanistan, al-Shabab in Somalia, and new to the list this year, the Houthis in Yemen and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria.
“The freedom to believe as one’s conscience dictates is a fundamental human right and vital to the security, stability and economic vitality of any state or region,” said Dorjee. “In the past year, we have seen severe violations of religious freedom mount around the globe, from the imprisonment of individuals charged with blasphemy in several countries to the internment of over one million Uighur Muslims in China. We and others laboring in the realm of religious freedom must persevere in our efforts to make this right a reality for everyone, everywhere.”
USCIRF also announced the imminent launch of its Victims Database, which will enable users to learn more about religious prisoners of conscience in countries USCIRF recommends as CPCs. USCIRF is establishing a mechanism for collecting data on victims to begin populating the database later this year.
We can pray…
Yes, and so we beseech our Heavenly Father to do those things which we cannot do.
And we can also pray that our Heavenly Father will give us the courage to do what He has given us to do!
Isaiah 1.
“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
17 Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.”
So I welcome this initiative -and once again we see it is our American cousins who are looking for practical solutions.. remember, it was the US who took Abu Hamsa off our trembling UK hands.
I have pestered our own MP regarding our Overseas Aid programme and the fact that our governments give e.g. Pakistan £440 million + per annum (in the name of but without the approval of British taxpayers); whilst they continue to abuse and persecute our Christian brethren as well as other minority groups.
Our political system is broken and no longer fit for purpose, and our Church leaders only raise their voices when prodded by the LGBT+ communities, never in defence of Christians or Christian morality..
Ahhh…Jimmy Carter’s Camp David Accords was 3 billion per year to Egypt and 2 billion per year to Israel not to kill each other. I may have the numbers a bit off.
That made sense because at that time Egypt was considered to be the most advanced and liberal Islamic nation -and imo still is.
My father spent time there during the reign of King Ferouk.
Within the parameters of Islam Egypt had a growing number of educated and professional people, and of course a long history of Islamic scholars.
The problem faced by Egypt and other Islamic nations is that they have a rigid class system of leaders and led, The lack of education and the degree of fanaticism engendered in the working/under classes makes progress very difficult. (As of course was the case in Christian Europe!)
So I don’t think we can compare that strategy with our current strategy, because the West is so much weaker morally.
Egypt gave refuge to Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. The Muslim Brotherhood took over and all Pres. Morsi had to do was play Stalin’s game of patronage and consolidation. Just a couple more years of promoting and putting his people in place to solidify control. He was impatient and declared himself supreme which turned into his demise. Contrary to the scholars, I saw the hand of the Holy Spirit bringing Egypt back from the brink.
Well mine is a more earthly viewpoint in that the West led by Barack Obama (worth reading his books btw), tried to bring democracy and human rights to a worldwide religious community that had no concept or use for either..
“One President, Jimmy Carter, seemed to have lost political support for having taken “human rights” too seriously in foreign policy..”
And therein lies another dilemma that we in the Western world have unwittingly created for ourselves and other cultures and nations.
Can you take a philosophical ideal developed in one culture, and transplant or impose it on another shaped by a different worldview?
I’m not sure you can.
In fact the West with usually good intentions, has tried to intervene in international situations without properly understanding the religious and cultural values that created them.
Think “Arab Spring”…