WASHINGTON (RNS) An independent federal panel on religious freedom has added two countries to its list of “countries of particular concern” — Iraq and Nigeria — and six others to its watch list.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its 2009 report on Friday (May 1). It sends an annual set of recommendations to the president, secretary of state and Congress.
Commissioners had already announced in December that Iraq is now among its “countries of particular concern,” which are those designated as having “systemic” or “ongoing” violations of religious freedom.
“The concerns outlined by the commission in December persist,” said Nina Shea, one of the nine commissioners, at a news conference at the National Press Club. She said religious minorities in Iraq are the subject of killings, rapes, and abductions, and a significant portion of the Christian population has fled the country.
“A lot of times there is a targeting of the prelates or the religious leaders or the directors of the churches, so it’s also a terrorist tactic to show that even the most prominent Christian with the best protection is vulnerable,” she said. “And that sets off an exodus.”
Nigeria has been added to the list because commissioners believe the country is tolerating violations of religious freedom. Hundreds — and some estimate thousands — were killed in sectarian violence in the city of Jos in the Plateau state in November.
“The government has allowed these killings as well as other violence and destruction of churches and mosques to occur with impunity, which is ample ground for designation as a country of particular concern,” said commissioner Leonard Leo.
The other nations that remain on the commission’s list of countries of particular concern are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.
Now on its second-tier “watch list” are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia. Six new countries — Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela — were added to the list for the first time this year.
