A commission that tracks international religious freedom violations has condemned the actions of several countries, including China and Sudan, for violent suppression of religious activities.
A commission that tracks international religious freedom violations has condemned the actions of several countries, including China and Sudan, for violent suppression of religious activities. In its annual report released April 30, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also cited Indonesia, Nigeria, and Pakistan for their actions against religious groups. The report identified abuses ranging from over-regulation of religious activity in Vietnam, to the imprisonment and torture of Christians in North Korea.
“This report clearly portrays the violations of religious freedom and increasing persecution around the world,” says Jonathan Gallagher, United Nations Liaison director for the Seventh-day Adventist Church worldwide. “The commission has highlighted concerns that we, as a church, also share. The situation is getting worse. The ability to worship according to the dictates of individual conscience is the most fundamental of human rights and needs to be protected and promoted.”
According to the report, the Chinese government’s control over the official Protestant and Catholic churches has increased, and “cases of torture by government officials reportedly are on the rise.”
The commission sharply criticized the government of Sudan, saying it “continues to commit egregious human rights abuses—including widespread bombing of civilian and humanitarian targets, manipulation of humanitarian assistance as a weapon of war, and severe restrictions on religious freedom.”
The commissioners wrote that they were disappointed that former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright had not acted on their recommendation to name four new countries—Laos, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan—to the list of “countries of particular concern.” They said the governments in each of those countries have engaged in “particularly severe” violations of religious freedom.
“That these countries are not listed by the U.S. Department of State is a grave error of judgment,” says Gallagher. “They are clearly among the worst enemies of religious liberty and should be identified as such.”
USCIRF is a federal government commission headquartered in Washington, D.C., created to advise the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress on how best to promote religious freedom internationally. Commissioners include prominent members of the Baha’i, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities; two former assistant secretaries of state; a law-school dean; a justice of the Washington State Supreme Court; the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, as well as other experts in international and religious law.
