Numerous countries continue to perpetrate “egregious violations” of citizens’ religious rights, according to the 2021 Annual Report released this week by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The independent, bipartisan commission makes regular recommendations to the U.S. State Department about global threats—nations as well as entities. Despite its troubling findings, the USCIRF report did note that some progress and positive developments occurred in the area of religious rights during 2020.
Good news is cited in countries such as Sudan and Eritrea; for example, “many prisoners of conscience were furloughed or released” due to COVID-19 outbreaks, according to USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin. Conditions in other countries, however, should continue to raise alarms throughout the federal government, the commission warns.
USCIRF Report Lists Countries of Concern
As it did for almost all aspects of life in 2020, the pandemic affected religious freedom too. While “trying to balance public health concerns alongside the fundamental right to freedom of religion or belief,” Manchin notes, “some governments took advantage of the restrictions to target specific religious communities.” Other governments “literally blamed the COVID-19 virus on a particular religion.” The commission plans to “monitor how countries respond to and recover from COVID-19,” adds Manchin, “and whether the loosening of [public health] restrictions is fair to people of all faiths and nonbelievers.”
