US panel recommends State Department classify India, Russia as ‘country of particular concern’ over religious freedoms

A U.S. panel has recommended that the State Department designate 15 nations, including India and Russia, as “countries of particular concern” for violating religious freedoms.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said in a report released Monday that the 15 countries are designated as such “because their governments engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations.”

The countries comprise the 10 nations that the State Department previously designated as countries of particular concern in November 2021: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan — as well as five others: Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Syria and Vietnam. 

USCIRF said its 2022 annual report sheds light on the most severe religious freedom concerns abroad and added that the “use and abuse of restrictive laws to repress religious freedom remains one of our main concerns around the world.”

The report also recommended that 12 countries be placed on the State Department’s Special Watch List: Algeria, Cuba, Nicaragua, Azerbaijan, the Central African Republic, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Turkey and Uzbekistan. 

“We are disheartened by the deterioration of freedom of religion or belief in some countries — especially Afghanistan under the Taliban’s de facto government since August. Religious minorities have faced harassment, detention, and even death due to their faith or beliefs, and years of progress toward more equitable access to education and representation of women and girls have disappeared,” USCIRF Chair Nadine Maenza said in a release.

The report also noted its recommendations that were implemented by the U.S. government.

Those include the designation of Russia as a country of particular concern, the imposition of targeted sanctions on religious freedom violators, and genocide determinations for atrocities perpetrated by the Chinese government against Uyghur and other Turkic Muslims, as well as by the Burmese military against Rohingya Muslims.