A new U.S. State Department report on global religious freedom has cited eight countries for particularly severe abuses.
“These are countries where governments have engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom over the past year,” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said in Washington on Tuesday (November 8th 2005). “We are committed to seeking improvements in each of these countries.”
The eight named as “countries of particular concern” (CPC) are
- Myanmar
- China
- North Korea
- Eritrea
- Iran
- Saudi Arabia
- Sudan
- Vietnam.
Designation as a CPC takes place under 1998 legislation which provides for the U.S. government to take punitive steps against violators of religious freedom.
The U.S. Commission for International Religious Freedom has recommended CPC status for all eight of the countries named Tuesday as well as three others
- Pakistan
- Uzbekistan
- Turkmenistan.
Other countries criticized for less serious infringements included
- Azerbaijan
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Brunei
- Cuba
- Egypt
- India
- Indonesia
- Israel
- Malaysia
- Pakistan
- Russia
- Sri Lanka
- Turkey.
France, Germany and Belgium were cited for practices of “branding minority religions as dangerous cults or sects.”
Rice said that of the eight CPCs, Vietnam had worked on its record and could eventually be removed from the list if improvement continues. Improvements were also reported in India, Turkmenistan, Georgia and the United Arab Emirates.