International Religious Freedom Report

In News

Recently, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released its annual report.

About the Report

• The report is known as the International Religious Freedom Report and describes the status of religious freedom, government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations and individuals, and U.S. policies promoting religious freedom.
• Focus: The report’s primary focus is on two groups of countries:
  • Country of Particular Concern: It is a designation by the US Secretary of State of a nation engaged in severe violations of religious freedom under IRFA 1998.

• Special Watch List (SWL):  A “Special Watch List” country is one that is deemed not to meet all of the CPC criteria but engages in or tolerates severe violations of religious freedom.
  • This country category was established in the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016 which amended the IRFA to provide the U.S. Government with new tools, resources, and responsibilities to advance and promote international religious freedom.

• Entities of Particular Concern: The report also includes USCIRF’s recommendations of violent non-state actors for designation by the State Department as “entities of particular concern,” or EPCs.

Major Concerns Highlighted In India’s Case

• Citizenship Amendment Act: The key concerns of the 2021 report include the Citizenship Amendment Act which went into effect in early 2020 and fast-tracks citizenship for non-Muslim refugees from South Asian countries meeting certain other criteria.
• Delhi’s riots: The report says, “Mobs sympathetic to Hindu nationalism operated with impunity,” and used “brutal force” to attack Muslims in Delhi’s riots in February 2020.
• National Register of Citizens (NRC): The USCIRF also alleged that in conjunction with a proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) requiring all residents to provide documentation of citizenship, the CAA could subject Muslims, in particular, to statelessness, deportation or prolonged detention.
•  Prohibition of interfaith marriage: Efforts to prohibit interfaith marriage – such as those in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh – are also highlighted as a concern.
  • These efforts targeting and delegitimizing interfaith relationships have led to attacks and arrests of non-Hindus.
• Tablighi Jamaat Markaz: In an apparent reference to the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in March 2020, the USCIRF says, “At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, disinformation and hateful rhetoric – including from government officials – often targeted religious minorities, continuing familiar patterns.”
• Abrogation of Article 370: The unilateral abrogation of Article 370 in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and activities aftermath.
  • The shutdown of the internet for nearly 18 months—the longest-ever shutdown in any democracy—and other restrictions on communications caused significant disruption and limited religious freedom.
• Amendment in the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA): In September 2020, the FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) was amended to place further restrictions on NGOs, including reducing the amount of foreign funds that could be used for administrative expenses and requiring that accounts be held in a government-designated bank.

Recommendations

• It assesses religious freedom violations and progress during the calendar year 2020 in 26 countries and makes independent recommendations for U.S. policy.
  • USCIRF has recommended the following 14 countries be designated a Country of Particular Concern(CPCs)  and 12 countries for the Special Watch List (SWL in 2021 as depicted in the image.
• A second recommendation was for the administration to promote interfaith dialogue and the rights of all communities at bilateral and multilateral forums “such as the ministerial of the Quadrilateral [the Quad].
• Recommendation for India: It recommended State Department to put India on a list (‘Countries of Particular Concern’ or CPCs) for the worst violations of religious freedoms in 2020 and  impose targeted sanctions on Indian individuals and entities
  • The Trump administration had rejected the USCIRF recommendation to designate India a CPC last year when it released its own determinations in December.

Conclusion & Way Forward

• India should not be a ‘country of particular concern,‘ or CPC. It is the world’s largest democracy, and it is governed by a pristine constitution. It is diversity personified and its religious life has been its greatest historic blessing
• India must always resist allowing political and intercommunal conflict to be exacerbated by religious tensions.

Source :TH