Published 12:26 IST, December 21st 2019
China, Pakistan on US watch list for religious freedom violations
The US state department under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 designated countries such as China, Pakistan for violations of religious freedom
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The US state department under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 re-designated countries such as Turkmenistan, Nort Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, China, Eritrea and Iran for having a role or tolerated human rights violations under the terms of religious freedom. However, the state department has placed these countries on a special list, adding that it has been a priority of the Trump-led administration.
'Everyone has a right to live with freedom'
The state department stated that people all over the world have the right to live with freedom. They further stressed that such incidents of violation of freedom will continue to be challenged against everyone who seeks to violate the rights of human beings, adding it will ensure that everyone committing such violations will be held responsible for their actions.
After the 2018 report of the International Religious Freedom of the state was released, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Pakistan needs to enforce more stringent rules in order to stop violating its blasphemy laws, with a special mention of Asia Bibi, who was not given a death sentence that led to a lot of criticism on an international level. The laws in Pakistan punish an act of blasphemy that results in penalties from a fine to a death sentence.
Pompeo criticises Chinese detention camps
According to reports, the US state department had a special section that talked about the issues of religious freedom in China. Mentioning the detention of up to one million Muslims in Beijing, Pompeo berated the detention camps set up in Xinjiang, which has been given the tag of education centres by the Chinese government.
The United States also imposed visa restrictions on the Chinese government and the members of the Communist Party who were allegedly responsible for detaining and abusing Uighurs, Kazakhs or other Muslim Minority groups in Xinjiang. Donald Trump recently inked a Uigur Act, a version that allows the American President to impose sanctions on members of China's political sphere. The US government also placed 68 people in a total of nine countries for having a role in incidents of human rights violations under the Global Magnitsky Act.
The US state department also placed places such as Russia, Comoros, Uzbekistan and Sudan under the special watch list on the basis of their role in violating religious freedom on a large scale. Sudan was placed under the Special watch list because of the measures taken by the transitional government to acknowledge the former government's violations of religious freedom.
(With inputs from agencies)
11:30 IST, December 21st 2019