China abuses against Muslim groups noted in religious freedom report

Despite “glimmers of progress” in religious freedom globally last year, key concerns were noted by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in releasing the 2018 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom (IRF).

Abuses in China warranted a special section in the IRF report, Pompeo said in a news conference following the report’s release June 21.

Among the concerns: the plight of at least 800,000 and up to possibly more than 2 million Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and members of other Muslim groups — mostly Chinese citizens — held in detention facilities in Xinjiang.

Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said the Chinese camps are “designed to strip away the culture, identity and faith of these religious communities.”

But in addition to China he said the report exposed “a chilling array of abuses committed last year by oppressive regimes, violent extremist groups and individual citizens” around the world.

The report covers countries and non-state organizations such as Islamic terrorist groups that violate the fundamental human right of religious freedom by repression, imprisonment or torture.

Pompeo cited Uzbekistan as a place where progress has been made. In 2018 the Uzbek government passed a religious freedom roadmap, released 1,500 religious prisoners and cleared 16,000 people who were blacklisted from travel because of their religious affiliations.

Meanwhile, Iran, Russia and Burma remain examples of continuing offenders of religious freedom, Pompeo said. To read the full State Department report, visit state.gov/reports/2018-report-on-international-religious-freedom. (BP)