U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Issues 2011 Report

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has issued its Annual Report, which begins with this dedication:

The 2011 Annual Report is dedicated to the memory of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs. Shahbaz was a courageous advocate for the religious freedoms of all Pakistanis, and he was assassinated on March 2 by the Pakistani
Taliban for those efforts.

The Report’s Overview states:

IRFA [International Religious Freedom Act] requires the President, who has delegated this authority to the Secretary of State, to designate as ―countries of particular concern,‖ or CPCs, those governments that have engaged in or tolerated ―particularly severe‖ violations of religious freedom. IRFA defines ―particularly severe‖ violations as ones that are ―systematic, ongoing, and egregious,‖ including acts such as torture, prolonged detention without charges, disappearances, or ―other flagrant denial[s] of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.‖ After a country is designated a CPC, the President is required by law to take one or more of the actions specified in IRFA, or to invoke a waiver if circumstances warrant.

For the 2011 Annual Report, USCIRF recommends that the Secretary of State designate the following 14 countries as CPCs: Burma, the Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, the People‘s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

As of the end of the reporting period on March 31, 2011, the Obama administration had yet to make any CPC designations since it came into office. Consequently, the designations of eight countries issued by then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in January 2009 still stand: Burma, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Eritrea, Iran, the People‘s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and
Uzbekistan. The State Department issued a 180-day waiver on taking any action against Uzbekistan and an indefinite waiver for Saudi Arabia, in both cases to ―further the purposes of the [International Religious Freedom] Act.‖ As a result of these waivers, the United States has not implemented any policy response to the particularly severe violations of religious freedom in either country. Moreover, because of the more-than-two-year gap in any designations, the Presidential actions that were levied against the
other current CPC designees have expired.

USCIRF also maintains a Watch List of countries where the serious violations of religious freedom engaged in or tolerated by the governments do not meet the CPC threshold but require close monitoring. The Watch List provides advance warning of negative trends that could develop into severe violations of religious freedom, thereby providing policymakers with the opportunity to engage early and increasing the likelihood of preventing or diminishing the violations. The following countries are on USCIRF‘s Watch List in this reporting period: Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Venezuela.

JFB