USCIRF chair Gayle Manchin explains why 22nd annual report by US watchdog agency reduces tally of offending nations, yet too many on black list still “don’t seem to care.”
As a new administration takes over leadership of America’s commitment to religious freedom worldwide, Gayle Manchin believes President Joe Biden is “very aware” of its importance.
But given global developments, the watchdog work of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), which she chairs, sometimes feels like “treading water.”
Others agree. For example, an 800-page study released today by Aid to the Church in Need concludes that 1 in 3 nations of the world do not respect religious freedom.
And in 95 percent of these, the situation is growing worse.
USCIRF, created to provide recommendations to the US government, released its 22nd annual report today. Its analysis identifies significant problems in 26 countries, down from 29 last year. It also marked a surge in worldwide antisemitism.
Following the commission’s advice, last December then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the designation of Burma [Myanmar], China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).
USCIRF’s 2021 report recommends that new Secretary of State Anthony Blinken add India, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam.
And where the US State Department under the Trump administration added Cuba and Nicaragua to a Special Watch List (SWL), this year USCIRF recommends also including Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.
Shielded from US foreign policy concerns, USCIRF says its mandate allows it to “unflinchingly criticize the records of US allies and adversaries alike” on religious freedom. This is meant as oversight and advice for the State Department, ...
from Christianity Today Magazine
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