9/16/11 Washington DC (MNN) – The House yesterday approved House Resolution 2867. It’s a bill that reauthorizes the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
The commission reviews religious freedom violations and makes policy recommendations to the president and Congress. Among its duties is the issuance of a report detailing countries that severely infringe on religious rights.
This year’s report listed Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan among the world’s worst offenders. Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says, “We appreciate the U.S. government really making religious freedom an issue within our relationships with other nations. This is something that the State Department looks into.”
There were several countries missing from the list, most notably Pakistan, Vietnam and Somalia. The USCIRF also recommended that Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria and Turkmenistan be on the list.
The commission reviews religious freedom violations and uses the CPC report to make policy recommendations to the president and Congress. Nettleton says the message the report sends is clear. “Overall, I think this is an important thing for our government to say that religious freedom is important and to bring this out in front of the world as the law stipulates that they will do.”
Although there has been a lot of upheaval in many parts of North Africa and the Middle East as reported by religious rights watchdogs, Nettleton notes that “there have not been any changes to the list of Countries of Particular Concern since 2009. It’s been two years since they’ve either taken somebody off of that list, or added somebody to that list.”
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