Annual 'Religious Freedom' Report Cites China, Iran, Others as Violators
by Jody Brown
September 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - On Friday the U.S. State Department released its Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. The global survey on religious freedom reports on conditions "as well as what the U.S. government is doing in each foreign country to promote religious freedom," according to Tad Stahnke, who is policy director of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).In this, its eighth annual report, the USCIRF has recommended that the State Department list 11 nations as the worst offenders -- referred to as "countries of particular concern" (CPCs) in the report. Eight were singled out last year: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Vietnam. The Commission, said Stahnke, has recommended that Pakistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan be added to the list. Those countries, according to the report, "engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations" of religious freedom.
Four countries -- Burma, China, Iran, and Sudan -- have been designated as CPCs every year since 1999. The State Department notes little improvement in the religious freedom situation in China, for example, despite new regulations on religious affairs that took effect last year. Those regulations, says the report, "continued to define only government-approved practices as faiths as normal or legitimate."
In addition to "significant restrictions" imposed against Muslim and Tibetan Buddhist adherents, Chinese officials also cracked down on the Christian faith over the last year. "Repression of unregistered Protestant church networks and 'house' churches continued to be widely reported," notes the State Department report. "House church leaders sometimes faced detention, formal arrest and sentences of re-education or imprisonment." Examples cited include the seven-and-half-year prison sentence handed down to Christian pastor Zhang Rongliang and restrictions placed on church historian Zhang Yinan that prevent him from leaving the country.
In Iran, the actions and rhetoric of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration has created a "threatening atmosphere" for practically all who do not practice Ja'fari Shi'a Islam, states the report. Religious minorities -- most notably the Baha'is, which the government in Iran considers a heretical Islamic group -- have been subjected to "intensified negative campaigns" by the government-controlled media since Ahmadinejad took office in June 2005.
The report notes "there were reports of imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, and discrimination" based on religious beliefs against even the legally recognized religious minorities in Iran -- Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians. The State Department points out that the November 2005 murder of a man who had converted to Christianity ten years earlier was reportedly followed by "repression of and threats to other Christians, including arrests of ten Christians."
In the cases of both China and Iran -- as well in the other CPCs -- the State Department report documents actions taken by the United States to promote religious freedom between July 1, 2005, and June 30, 2006, the period covered by the report. In some cases, the U.S. imposed financial and trade sanctions against a country for its violations of human rights; in other cases, statements made both publicly and in private by U.S. officials urged those countries to respect citizens' constitutional and internationally recognized right to exercise religious freedom.
John V. Hanford III, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, acknowledges in the introduction to the report that even though the U.S. may have its own struggles in the area of religious freedom, it still has a responsibility to urge other countries to examine themselves and take action. "Our own record as a nation on this and other freedoms is not perfect," he notes. "However, our imperfections cannot serve as an excuse to retreat from the challenge of working to make this universal right a reality for all humankind."
Read in its entirety the 'International Religious Freedom Report 2006'
Link with War on Terror
Delivering the opening remarks at a press conference on Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice explained how the 2006 report on international religious freedom dovetails with the ongoing battle against international terrorism. Citizens from more than 90 countries, she pointed out, died in the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.
"It was a stark reminder that the entire world was affected by these brutal and horrific attacks, and the entire world is threatened by the extremist ideology of hate and bigotry and religious intolerance," Rice stated. "The events of that day make this report all the more important, and they renew our determination to honor the highest ideals that we have always affirmed throughout our history."
Those ideals, she said, reflect a democratic society that protects and respects religious differences. "Religious freedom is deeply rooted in our principles and our history as a nation -- and it is now integral to our efforts to combat terrorism and the ideology of hatred that fuels it," the secretary said.
