U.S. commission calls out religious oppression in India

As Indian voters participate in a six-week national election, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Wednesday asked the U.S. State Department to add India to its list of worst religious freedom violators.

The independent bipartisan commission called for the designation in its annual report on global religious freedom, where it lists its recommendations for which countries to designate as “countries of particular concern”—reserved for the worst violators—and which ones to place on a special watch list. This year marked the release of the commission’s 25th report. Commissioners called again on the State Department to implement more effective consequences against repressive governments.

The United States created the commission in 1998 under the International Religious Freedom Act and empowered it to issue nonbinding recommendations to the administration and Congress. The State Department ultimately designates the countries, which could then face economic sanctions and other penalties.

This year, the commission asked the State Department to add Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Nigeria, and Vietnam to the list of countries of particular concern, or CPC. It also urged the State Department to retain its CPC designation for 12 other countries: Burma (also known as Myanmar), China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.

In India, hate speech, particularly targeting Muslims, increased ahead of the national elections, Commissioner David Curry said during a news conference announcing the report. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party are up for reelection, with final results expected next month. During a rally in April, Modi criticized his political opponents by saying that if they win office, they will redistribute people’s wealth to “infiltrators,” pointing to religious and other minorities in India.

In India’s northeastern Manipur state, clashes between the ethnic Hindu Meiteis and the mainly Christian Kukis last year destroyed more than 500 churches and two synagogues, according to the USCIRF report. Curry noted that India’s reach also extended abroad. The United States and Canada accused the Indian government of assassination attempts targeting Indians on foreign soil.

“Essentially what India is saying is, if you’re not a Hindu, you’re really not an Indian citizen,” Curry told WORLD. “And they are doing any number of things which are making it difficult for people to practice their faith.”

The commission noted that, in Nigeria, religious freedom conditions remained poor over the past year. In January, thousands of Christians in north-central Plateau state participated in a peaceful march for change after deadly attacks over the Christmas season killed more than 200 people.

Commissioner Eric Ueland criticized the State Department for failing to recognize Nigeria as one of the worst religious freedom violators for the past three years. He acknowledged that American authorities have recognized the role of non-state actors like the Boko Haram terror group.

“However that designation does not account for the imprisonments and mob violence, for alleged blasphemy, the mass killings, including killings of many Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, and the consistent failure of the Nigerian government to prevent or punish widespread violence impacting religious freedom in Nigeria,” Ueland said.

The commission also reiterated its call for a special envoy for Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin to give particular attention to religious freedom in the region.

For the first time, this year’s report also recommended that Azerbaijan be listed as a CPC. The commission noted that authorities refused to register any non-Muslim religious community over the past year. Curry also highlighted Azerbaijani operations that have targeted ethnic Armenians in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

“Azerbaijan is playing a political game where they think they can get away with cleansing Armenian Christians from their country, and they need to be called out for it,” he said.

The commission also added Kyrgyzstan to its special watch list, a step lower than the CPC list, for the first time. The report noted that authorities “rigorously penalized religious practices, including online religious expression, collective religious worship and studies, and, relatedly, the possession of unauthorized religious materials.”

Commissioners asked for Algeria to remain under special watch, and for authorities to also add nine other countries to the special watch list: Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Turkey, and Uzbekistan.

This year’s report flagged China and India as engaging in “transnational repression.” Across Southeast Asia, “governments increasingly used digital surveillance software and practices originating from countries such as China and Israel to spy on diaspora communities, including religious minorities,” the report said.

In one positive move, the commission stepped down Syria from its worst violators list to its special watch list. “The government's violations of religious freedom have evolved to become more political and administrative in nature in recent years, including in 2023,” said Commissioner Stephen Schneck.

Commissioner Frank Wolf said many of the same countries continue to appear each year in the commission’s annual report and the State Department’s designations.

“We recommend that the State Department implement meaningful consequences on violator governments when it names its CPCs,” Wolf said. “For example, it should not reissue the long-standing waivers based on other U.S. interests that have so far allowed the governments of Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan to avoid penalties for their abuses.”