USCIRF 2019 Report

Question: Which country is found to be the worst offender of the religious freedom as per the latest report of USCIRF on World`s most egregious violators of religious freedom?
(a) China
(b) Myanmar
(c) Iraq
(d) Saudi Arabia
Answer: (a)
Related facts:

  • United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released 2019 Annual Report and Recommendation for Worlds Most Egregious Violators of Religious Freedom on 29th April, 2019.
  • This was the 20th Annual Report documenting country conditions in, and analyzing and recommending U. S. policy initiatives toward, the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.
  • The report found worlds most populous country China as the worst offender when it comes to persecution of religious faiths.

Major highlights of the report:

  • The report divided the countries into three tiers. Countries of particular concern (CPCs) for engaging in or tolerating systematic, ongoing, egregious violations.
  • Entities of particular concern (EPCs) to be designated where non-state actors cited for similarly severe violations and Tier 2 countries meaning the violations meet one or two, but not all three, of the elements of the systematic, ongoing, egregious test for CPC status.
  • The 16 countries USCIRF recommended for CPC designation which are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria, Russia, Syria, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
  • The 12 countries on USCIRF’s Tier 2 list are Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia, and Turkey.
  • The five entities recommended for EPC designation include the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Taliban in Afghanistan, al-Shabab in Somalia, and new to the list this year, the Houthis in Yemen and Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria.
  • China sits prominently on the list of religious persecution. There has been persecution of Uyghur Muslims, Falung Gong practitioners, Christians, and Tibetan Buddhists in China. Around 1 million Uyghur Muslims were put on internment camps in an effort to combat extremism last year.
  • Russia continued a downward spiral of religious liberty, using the pretense of combating extremism to repress minorities.
  • In Myanmar, where nearly 88% of citizens are Buddhist, religious minorities found little justice. The government and military denied there was a campaign to extinguish Rohingya Muslims through systematic rape, torture and mass killings.

Report on India:

  • There has been an overall deterioration of religious freedom conditions in 2018, the report mentions for India. It continues to remain a Tier 2 country, a list it has been unable to get off of since 2009.
  • The report has found an increased securitisation and politicisation of religion. It is increasingly difficult to separate religion and politics, a tactic that is sometimes intentional by those who seek to discriminate against and restrict the rights of certain religious communities.
  • The report says conditions for minorities in India have deteriorated over the last decade. There has been multifaceted campaign by Hindu nationalist groups like the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSS), Sangh Parivar to alienate non-Hindus or lower-caste Hindus is a significant contributor to the rise of religious violence and persecution.
  • Serious Mob Violence on Muslims and Dalits has been done on the name of cow slaughter, anti-conversion laws.
  • There is a lack of transparency on denying international NGOs registration and political targeting of NGOs.
  • The Commission also found some positive developments like the decrease in communal attacks by 12 % in 2018 from their 2017 levels, a 12% increase in the budget of the Ministry of Minority Affairs and the Supreme Court’s push for an 11-point plan to counter mob violence.

USCIRF:

  • United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is an independent, bi-partisan U.S. federal government commission created by the 1998 International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) that monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief abroad.
  • USCIRF uses international standards to monitor religious freedom violations globally, and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.
  • USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and Congressional leaders of both political parties.

Links:
https://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases-statements/uscirf-releases-2019-annual-report-and-recommendations-world-s
https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/religious-freedom-in-india-continued-downward-trend-in-2018-uscirf-119042901261_1.html
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/us-commission-says-religious-freedom-in-india-deteriorated-in-2018/article27002889.ece
https://www.npr.org/2019/04/29/718244032/religious-freedom-report-offers-grim-review-of-attacks-on-faith-groups
http://www.phayul.com/news/article.aspx?id=41393&t=1