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| Religious Freedom: 11 Countries of Concern |
| 2004-02-19 |
| 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 |
| #4 phil_b, so our State Department is biased against countries that are not religiously homogeous. The logical result of their preference is for the US to encourage ethnic cleansing as a way to resolve sectarian religious disputes. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-19 7:01:01 PM |
| #3 SH I checked out the Eritrea situation a while back, They make the list becuase they discourage prosletyzing missionaries. Understandable in a country that is trying to maintain harmony in a mixed christian/moslem population. This is entirely different to the state sponsored religous persecution/discrimination that occurs in many muslim countries, including Egypt as you point out. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2004-2-19 5:32:09 PM |
| #2 I'm not really sure how India makes the list. Yeah they have areas where the Christians, or the Moslems or Sikhs are abused but its not government policy and its not a national problem. |
| Posted by: ruprecht 2004-2-19 3:23:22 PM |
| #1 He said these include Burma, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. What kind of list of evil-doers is this. Where are the US and Israel? ... Oh, OK. I see why now. It's not just the House of Saud, that should have made this list. I don't get how Eritrea makes the list and Egypt is left off. Egypt's treatment of the Coptic church should land them pretty high on the list. Also Mauritania still enslaves infidels - I would consider that persecution. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-2-19 1:29:49 PM |