New Delhi: The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has said the US State Department has turned a blind eye by not including India in the list of “countries of particular concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act.
The most recent CPC designations were made by the US Secretary of State on November 30, 2022. The exclusion of Indian and Nigeria shocked governments, HRs organisations and international experts. The Indian worst track record of HRs abuses which has invited a lot of criticism and condemnation worldwide was completely ignored by US States Department, raising questions regarding the designation criteria.
Moreover, United States has been critized for its selective treatment owing to safe guard its economic interest has been termed as the motive behind the move. The latest designations are; Burma, People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
It is pertinent to mention that even The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has been outraged by omission of Nigeria and India from State Department’s List of Countries of Particular Concern.
The USCIRF issued a strong worded statement pointing towards the incomprehensible act of not including India in CPC. The USCIRF finds it inexplicable that the U.S. Department of State did not include Nigeria or India in its latest designations of “Countries of Particular Concern” (CPCs) under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), turning a blind eye to both countries’ particularly severe religious freedom violations.
“There is no justification for the State Department’s failure to recognize Nigeria or India as egregious violators of religious freedom, as they each clearly meet the legal standards for designation as CPCs. USCIRF is tremendously disappointed that the Secretary of State did not implement our recommendations and recognize the severity of the religious freedom violations that both USCIRF and the State Department have documented in those countries.
The USCIRF Chair Nury Turkel also mentioned that “The State Department’s own reporting includes numerous examples of particularly severe religious freedom violations in India, especially in relation to religious freedom, freedom of speech and Indian brutalities against civilian population of Jammu and Kashmir.”
The USCIRF Chair Nury Turkel also mentioned that “The State Department’s own reporting includes numerous examples of particularly severe religious freedom violations in India, especially in relation to religious freedom, freedom of speech and Indian brutalities against civilian population of Jammu and Kashmir.” Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP) recently asked its government to boycott events held in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir as India begins its presidency of the G20, citing discriminatory anti-minority laws, its threats of ethnic cleansing, persecution of minorities, and the arrests of journalists and human rights activists.
In October 2022, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Minority Rights Fernand de Varennes said at a congressional briefing that “nothing short of an international investigative mechanism – as has been done by the UN Security Council, Human Rights Council for countries such as Syria, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Ethiopia – may be necessary” to reverse the trend of violence against minorities in India.
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