Religious Freedom Around the World
It may sometimes seem as if the U.S. government puts little value on religious freedom around the world. But a recent report shows that our country’s leaders are, at some level, specifically aware of the mistreatment Christians face globally.
The 2010 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) lists 13 Countries of Particular Concern, 12 countries on the Watch List, and three additional countries being closely monitored by the committee. Twenty-six of the 28 countries are also on VOM’s list of 54 hostile and restricted nations. The two exceptions are Venezuela, where the concern is anti-Semitism, and the Russian Federation, whose laws favor Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, Judaism and Buddhism.
Five new countries were added to the CPC list in 2010: Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. This year’s report warns that the problem of religious freedom is deepening. Significantly, it charges that “neither prior Democratic nor Republican administrations, nor the current administration, have been sufficiently engaged in promoting the freedom of religion or belief abroad,” and it calls for change.
The following are some of the specific violations noted in the report:
· Saudi Arabia is exporting extremist ideas through education materials.
· North Korea imprisons (in labor camps) even the grandchildren of people caught praying.
The USCIRF investigates and evaluates conditions of religious freedom around the world each year. Their annual report highlights both Countries of Particular Concern in regard to religious freedom and countries to watch. These reports broadly cover all religious minorities, including Christians.
Countries of Particular Concern are defined as countries “whose governments have engaged in or tolerated ‘particularly severe’ violations of religious freedom,” violations that are “systematic, ongoing and egregious.” After a country receives this designation, the president is required by law to take action.
The Countries of Particular Concern for 2010 are Burma (Myanmar), China, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. Countries on the Watch List are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela. The three countries being monitored by the USCIRF are Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka. The full report can be found at: www.uscirf.gov.