USCIRF urges recognition of new religious freedom violator

By Tom Strode - May 13, 2005

The U.S. Commission on International Freedom urged for the first time that Uzbekistan be designated by the State Department as one of the “countries of particular concern,” a category reserved for governments that have “engaged in or tolerated systemic and egregious violations of religious freedom.” The USCIRF also deleted India from its list of countries recommended for CPC designation.

On the same day it released its annual report, the bipartisan panel recommended May 11 to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the retention of Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Vietnam on the CPC list. It also repeated its previous advice that Pakistan and Turkmenistan be added to the category, a suggestion the previous secretary of State, Colin Powell, did not agree to last year.

The USCIRF recommends governments for CPC designation each year, but the Scretary of State actually designates which countries are on the CPC list.

The commission urged Rice to take action called for by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) against CPC designees but so far ignored by the Clinton and Bush administrations. In the case of Burma, China, Iran, North Korea and Sudan, all long-time CPC designees, the U.S. government has enforced only sanctions already in existence against those countries for other reasons.

“The U.S. government’s reliance on pre-existing sanctions has provided little incentive for those CPC governments to reduce or end egregious violations of religious freedom,” the USCIRF said in its new report. “[That] is unacceptable as a matter of policy.”

As it has in the past, the panel also released a “watch list” of countries that should be closely monitored, although their religious freedom violations do not reach the level required for CPC recommendation, according to the USCIRF. This year’s “watch list” consists of Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria.

The USCIRF’s 2005 report may be obtained online at www.uscirf.gov .

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