ICC Note: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has placed India among its ‘Tier 2’ countries of particular concern for religious freedom violations. Among this issues highlighted by USCIRF were the anti-conversion and anti-cow slaughter laws used against religious minorities, primarily Christians and Muslims.

04/28/2018 India (Times of India) – A US government panel tracking international religious freedom has alleged that nearly one-third of India’s states were enforcing anti-conversion and/or anti-cow slaughter laws against “non-Hindus” and sought the repeal or amendment of these laws to make them “conform with international human rights standards”.

Stating that “cow protection’ mobs in 2017 had engaged in violence against Muslims or Dalits whose families had been engaged in dairy, leather or beef trade for generations and “murdered at least 10 victims”, the United Stated Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recommended that the US government advocate for Indian government to press the states having anti-conversion and anti-cow slaughter laws, to repeal or amend them.

USCIRF, which makes policy recommendations to the President, Secretary of State and Congress, in its 2018 report released on Thursday placed India once again among ‘Tier 2’ countries of particular concern, on par with Turkey and Afghanistan. This designation, it noted, is based on the assessment that India in 2017 engaged in or tolerated religious freedom violations that meet at least one of the elements of the “systematic, ongoing, egregious” standards.

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