Threats to religious liberty have increased in two Muslim-dominated countries the United States has helped liberate in recent years from totalitarian regimes, a bipartisan government panel said in its latest annual report.
In releasing its 2006 report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended the same 11 countries it cited in 2005 for designation as the world’s most severe persecutors of religious adherents. It also expressed alarm about the conditions for free religious expression in Iraq and Afghanistan, even adding Afghanistan to a “watch list” of countries for close monitoring.
The commission recommended to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the retention of Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs), a category reserved for governments that have “engaged in or tolerated systemic and egregious violations of religious freedom.” The panel repeated its call from last May for Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to be designated as CPCs. Rice declined to include those three on the CPC list when the State Department made its report last November.
The USCIRF made Afghanistan the only addition to a “watch list” otherwise repeated from last year: Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria. The panel also said it is scrutinizing religious freedom in India, Russia and Sri Lanka.
The USCIRF acknowledged the situation for religious liberty in Afghanistan is improved over the conditions that existed under the Taliban, an extremist Islamic regime deposed by the United States-led military action after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The Taliban regime was on the CPC list before it was overthrown.
The problems for religious expression, however, have increased in the last year, according to the panel. The new constitution is flawed regarding individual rights, and the judiciary is headed by a Supreme Court chief justice who does not support freedom of religion, according to the commission.
Iraq, which is still seeking to establish a constitution and government after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein’s regime, has been plagued in the last year by escalating violence between Sunni and Shi’a Muslims, as well as religiously motivated attacks at the hands of insurgents and Islamic militants on various groups, the USCIRF reported.
The USCIRF also urged the White House to take action against Saudi Arabia, which was finally named as a CPC in 2004 after years of recommendations by the commission. A year after the designation, Rice approved in September a 180-day waiver of action on the Saudi regime. That time period has expired, and conditions for religious liberty have not improved substantially in the last year, commissioner Nina Shea said at the news conference.
The USCIRF recommends governments for CPC designation each year, but the secretary of state actually designates which countries are on the list. Communist and Islamic regimes dominate the CPC list. China, North Korea and Vietnam have communist-controlled governments, while Iran, Saudi Arabia and Sudan have Muslim-dominated regimes. Burma, China, Iran and Sudan have been CPCs since the initial list in 1999.
The USCIRF’s 2006 report may be obtained online at www.uscirf.gov. (BP)
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