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Religious Freedom: 11 Countries of Concern
EFL
The chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Michael Young, said the group has concluded that 11 countries should be given the most serious designation, as countries of particular concern. He said these include Burma, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. He urged the State Department to repeat these designations, when it issues its annual report on religious freedom and to take stronger steps to encourage the named countries to make improvements.
Anyone notice any progress from these annual reports? Didn’t think so.
"This designation does not necessarily mean that there would be sanctions against a country or any particular action," says Mr. Young. "But it does require that the Secretary of State engage at the highest levels with that country and enter into an agreement that involves the articulation of specific steps that would be taken to improve the state or religious liberties in that particular country." Of these 11 countries, five of them were already named in the State Department’s 2003 report on religious freedom. But six of them -- Eritrea, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam -- were not singled out in that report. Mr. Young said this is not the first time his commission has criticized Saudi Arabia.
And there will be plenty more opportunities in the future.
"According to the U.S. State Department’s own report, not the report of our commission, but the State Department’s own report, is that freedom of religion does not exist in Saudi Arabia. It’s a simple, categorical statement. That’s how they open up their analysis," he says. "And in our judgment, Saudi Arabia is a country with which we have close ties and cooperation on these matters ought to be deeper and this ought to be a more important focal point of this cooperation."
But that would interfere with the Foggy Bottom, Soddie funded, retirement plan.
Posted by: GK 2004-02-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=26523