Dharamshala, 29th April: On April 25, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its annual report for 2022, in which China was named a Country of Particular Concern (CFC) alongside Afghanistan, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Burma, etc.

According to USCIRF’s website, “The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its 2022 annual report documenting developments during 2021, including significant regress in countries such as Afghanistan and the Central African Republic (CAR). USCIRF’s 2022 Annual Report provides recommendations to enhance the U.S. government’s promotion of freedom of religion or belief abroad,”

The USCIRF said in the report’s China section, ” In 2021, religious freedom conditions in China deteriorated. The government continued to vigorously implement its “sinicization of religion” policy and demand that religious groups and adherents support the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) rule and ideology.”

More information was included in the report, “Throughout 2021, the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA)—a government agency under the direct control of the CCP’s United Front Work Department (UFWD)— and other agencies issued new legal measures, imposing further restrictions on clergy, religious schools, and religious content on the internet.”

The assessment observed that China’s government maintained its pervasive control and oppression of Tibetan Buddhism. “In May, it (China) issued a white paper on Tibet that included an emphasis on sinicizing religion there. In July, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping visited Tibet and stressed the importance of “fully implementing” the Party’s religious policies. Local authorities organized seminars to indoctrinate monks and nuns at Tibetan Buddhist monasteries, restricted Tibetans’ access to temples with a heavy security presence, destroyed sites and symbols of religious significance, and detained and punished Tibetans for listening to the Dalai Lama’s teachings or possessing his portrait,” it reported.

China should be re-designated as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for systematic, ongoing, and severe violations of religious freedom, according to the Commission’s recommendation to the US government (IRFA). It was also suggested that the US administration joins with like-minded countries in international fora, such as the United Nations Human Rights Council, to hold the Chinese government accountable for grave religious freedom abuses collectively.

It also asked the US Congress to guarantee that China-related human rights legislation, such as the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act and the Tibet Policy and Support Act (TPSA), be effectively implemented by the US government in order to improve religious freedom in China.

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