By Brian Pellot, Religion News Service
Secretary of State John Kerry announced July 28 that Turkmenistan has joined the State Department’s list of worst religious freedom offenders.
The State Department’s “Countries of Particular Concern” list had remained static since 2006, when eight countries — Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan — were designated as CPCs.
Justifying the addition of Turkmenistan, Kerry cited reports of people detained, beaten and tortured for their beliefs, prohibited from wearing religious attire and fined for distributing religious materials.
Once part of the Soviet Union, Turkmenistan lies to the north of Iran and Afghanistan in Central Asia. It is a mostly Sunni Muslim country, and it forbids private worship and greatly restricts foreign travel for pilgrimages and religious education.
All religious organizations in the country must register with the government, and Shiite Muslim groups, Protestant groups and Jehovah’s Witnesses have all had their registration applications denied in recent years. Jehovah’s Witnesses, whose beliefs prevent them from fulfilling mandatory military conscription, face particular harassment.
This edition of the State Department’s annual religious freedom report focused heavily on discrimination, impunity and the displacement of religious minorities.
“In 2013, the world witnessed the largest displacement of religious communities in recent memory,” the report said. “In almost every corner of the globe, millions of Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and others representing a range of faiths were forced from their homes on account of their religious beliefs.”
CPCs were not the only offenders named. Kerry cited anti-Muslim sentiments in Europe and a poll from last year showing that nearly half of the local Jewish populations in some European countries had considered emigrating to escape anti-Semitism.
The report summary also names Syria, Sri Lanka, Egypt, Iraq, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India and Nigeria for failing to protect vulnerable religious communities, which often face violence, discrimination and harassment.
Kerry called the report “a clear-eyed objective look at the state of religious freedom around the world. He called for the CPC designations to be grounded in real action that can help change reality on the ground.
Although sobering, this year’s report is not without positive developments.
Kerry mentioned Pakistani Muslims who formed human chains to protect Christian worshippers after a church bombing in Peshawar and a Jewish neighborhood watch team that helped Muslim leaders in London ensure safe access to mosques after a series of attacks.
In April, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent watchdog panel created by Congress to review international religious freedom conditions, recommended that the State Department add Turkmenistan, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Vietnam and Syria to the list of CPCs.
From the July/August 2014 Report From the Capital. Click here to read the next article.
