China, Pakistan designated by US as ‘international locations of specific concern’

The US has designated China, North Korea and Pakistan as “Nations of Specific Concern” for participating in and tolerating “significantly extreme violations of spiritual freedom.”

Saying the Spiritual Freedom Designations, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that advancing the liberty of faith or perception has been a core goal of US overseas coverage ever since Congress handed and enacted the Worldwide Spiritual Freedom Act in 1998.

As a part of that “enduring dedication”, Blinken stated final week that he has designated Burma, China, Cuba, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as “Nations of Specific Concern for having engaged in or tolerated significantly extreme violations of spiritual freedom.”

As well as, he designated Algeria, Azerbaijan, the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam as Particular Watch Checklist international locations for participating in or tolerating extreme violations of spiritual freedom.

Blinken additionally designated al-Shabab, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, ISIS-Sahel, ISIS-West Africa, al-Qa’ida affiliate Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, and the Taliban as “Entities of Specific Concern.”

The highest US diplomat additional famous that important violations of spiritual freedom additionally happen in international locations that aren’t designated.

“Governments should finish abuses comparable to assaults on members of spiritual minority communities and their locations of worship, communal violence and prolonged imprisonment for peaceable expression, transnational repression, and calls to violence in opposition to spiritual communities, amongst different violations that happen in too many locations around the globe,” Blinken stated.

He added that the challenges to spiritual freedom throughout the globe are structural, systemic, and deeply entrenched. “However with considerate, sustained dedication from those that are unwilling to just accept hatred, intolerance, and persecution as the established order we’ll at some point see a world the place all individuals stay with dignity and equality,” Blinken stated.