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State Dept. highlights religious violations
Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service
March 18, 2010
2 MIN READ TIME

State Dept. highlights religious violations

State Dept. highlights religious violations
Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service
March 18, 2010

The State Department issued

its annual human rights report March 11, noting religious freedom violations in

countries ranging from China to Iraq to Saudi Arabia.

The report on 194 countries

called 2009 “a year in which ethnic, racial, and religious tensions led to

violent conflicts and serious human rights violations.”

The State Department said “no

genuine freedom of religion” exists in North Korea and Cuban law permits

punishment of “any unauthorized assembly of more than three persons, including

those for private religious services in private homes.”

The report said religious

minorities continue to face “escalating discrimination and persecution.” In

Iraq, for example, despite the government’s public calls for tolerance, attacks

on places of worship by extremist and insurgent groups limited their ability to

practice their faith.

In China, repression of

Tibetan Buddhists and Muslim Uighurs increased, the report said. Non-Muslims

are prohibited from expressing their religion publicly in Saudi Arabia.

The department noted that

several countries with “generally strong” human rights records had been home to

religious freedom violations in 2009, citing the recent ban on construction of

minarets in Switzerland as an example.

“Discrimination against

Muslims in Europe has been an increasing concern,” the report said.