Commission Names 13 Countries as Religious Freedom Violators
The latest annual report by the independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom names 13 countries as serious violators of religious freedom
 |
| People pray in Nuestra Senora de la Merced Catholic church in Havana, 29 Sep 2008 |
The 13 countries named as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) in this year's report are Burma, North Korea, China, Vietnam, Eritrea, Nigeria, Sudan, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
On the "watch list" are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Venezuela.
A key focus of the commission during this reporting period is the threat that religious extremism poses to freedom
According to the report, countries in this category are those where governments engaged in or tolerated particularly severe, meaning systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.
clipped from: www.voanews.com