Though the U.S. State Department has taken some steps to address the issue of religious freedom worldwide, the government has apparently done little to integrate concern for religious freedom into U.S. foreign policy, a federal commission on religious freedom worldwide has concluded in a new report.
“The State Department’s report describes a number of countries where the conditions of religious freedom have deteriorated, yet U.S. Policy toward those countries has not been adjusted as a result,” concluded the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in its report released Dec. 8.
The report was an assessment of the State Department’s second annual report on religious freedom and its implementation of the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act. That act created the commission to monitor religious freedom abroad.
The commission praised the State Department for designating Burma, China, Iran, Iraq and Sudan as nations whose records of religious violations make them “countries of particular concern,” but expressed disappointment that Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan were omitted from the list.
Noting that the 1998 Religious Freedom Act requires some policy response from the government toward countries given such designation, the commission faulted the State Department’s report for failing to mention whether sanctions were imposed on those countries.
The report also faulted the State Department’s report for obscuring “the main thrust of what is happening” through “omissions of important context.”
Such is the case in the department’s review of religious freedom of Sudan, the commission said, which fails to address the connection between oil extraction and government persecution of minority religions. The commission cautioned the State Department against misrepresenting the conditions of religious freedom in its review of improvements in religious freedom worldwide. (RNS)
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