The USCIRF has highlighted Russia’s detention of Jehovah’s Witnesses, large number of criminal blasphemy cases, and enforcement of repressive laws and policies on religion in Russian-occupied Crimea.
The State Department also placed Algeria, Comoros, Cuba, and Nicaragua on a Special Watch List for severe violations of religious freedom in 2021, and designated al-Shabab, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Greater Sahara, ISIS-West Africa, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, and the Taliban as Entities of Particular Concern.
“The challenges to religious freedom in the world today are structural, systemic, and deeply entrenched. They exist in every country,” Blinken said.
“They demand sustained global commitment from all who are unwilling to accept hatred, intolerance, and persecution as the status quo. They require the international community’s urgent attention.”
Sam Brownback, the former U.S. religious freedom ambassador, called the removal of Nigeria from the State Department’s list of religious freedom concerns “a serious blow to religious freedom in both Nigeria and across the region.”
“Just when we should be doing everything possible to stop the relentless violence that’s targeting Christians and others, we do the opposite,” Brownback, Senior Fellow at Open Doors USA, said.
“This rewards the Nigerian government for tolerating severe religious freedom violations and sends a message to extremists that their actions will continue to go unpunished. People of faith in Nigeria will bear the fallout of this decision, and that’s unacceptable.”
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