China among world’s 13 most religious violators

(TibetanReview.net, May01, 2010)  The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has, in its latest annual report released Apr 29, listed China among the top 13 worst violators of religious freedom. The report said there was "a marked deterioration in the past year, particularly in Tibetan Buddhist and Uighur Muslim areas."

The report says that in the PRC as a whole “the government continues to engage in systematic and egregious violations of the freedom of religion or belief."

AP Apr 29 cited the commission's chairman, Leonard Leo, as saying in a statement that the report offers important foreign policy solutions that should be implemented, adding, "the administration must do more."

Apart from China, this year's list of 13 "countries of particular concern" included Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. The first eight names figured in the same list last year.

The report criticized the current and former US administrations for doing far too little to make basic religious rights universal.

The commission was set up under a congressional act in 1998. It investigates conditions in what it calls "hot spots," where religious freedom is endangered. Its job is to recommend US government policies to improve conditions.

US actions currently in force against the original eight include embargoes, often on top of existing sanctions, and denial of military or financial aid. However, these have been waived for different countries for periods ranging from indefinite in the case of Saudi Arabia to 180 days in the case of Uzbekistan.