The US has designated China, North Korea and Pakistan as “Nations of Specific Concern” for partaking in and tolerating “notably extreme violations of spiritual freedom.”
Asserting the Non secular Freedom Designations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned that advancing the liberty of faith or perception has been a core goal of US international coverage ever since Congress handed and enacted the Worldwide Non secular Freedom Act in 1998.
As a part of that “enduring dedication”, Blinken mentioned final week that he has designated Burma, China, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as “Nations of Specific Concern for having engaged in or tolerated notably extreme violations of spiritual freedom.”
As well as, he designated Algeria, Azerbaijan, the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam as Particular Watch Listing international locations for partaking in or tolerating extreme violations of spiritual freedom.
Blinken additionally designated al-Shabab, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, ISIS-Sahel, ISIS-West Africa, al-Qa’ida affiliate Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, and the Taliban as “Entities of Specific Concern.”
The highest US diplomat additional famous that important violations of spiritual freedom additionally happen in international locations that aren’t designated.
“Governments should finish abuses reminiscent of assaults on members of spiritual minority communities and their locations of worship, communal violence and prolonged imprisonment for peaceable expression, transnational repression, and requires violence towards non secular communities, amongst different violations that happen in too many locations all over the world,” Blinken mentioned.
He added that the challenges to non secular freedom throughout the globe are structural, systemic, and deeply entrenched. “However with considerate, sustained dedication from those that are unwilling to simply accept hatred, intolerance, and persecution as the established order, we are going to someday see a world the place all individuals dwell with dignity and equality,” Blinken mentioned.
