07259
May 3, 2007

U.S. commission worried about religious freedom in Iraq

by Chris Herlinger
Ecumenical News International

NEW YORK — Iraq has been added to a “watch list” of countries requiring “close monitoring” of violation of religious freedoms, by an independently-run monitoring group established by the U.S. government.

     The decision by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to add Iraq to the list is due to the “alarming and deteriorating situation for freedom of religion and belief” within the war-torn nation, the panel said in its annual report released on May 2. Iraq joins a “watch list” that includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria.

     The report noted what it called the “growing scope and severity of human rights abuses” within Iraq. It said that non-state actors, particularly a Sunni-dominated insurgency, “are responsible for a substantial proportion of the sectarian violence and associated human rights violations.”

     However, the Iraqi government also bears responsibility for acts of violence, it stated. This included engaging in human rights violations through its state security forces. These violations include arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without due process, extra-judicial executions and torture, the panel said.

     The government is also responsible, the report said, for tolerating religiously-based attacks and other acts violating religious freedom, including abuses carried out by armed Shia factions.

     In addition to adding Iraq to its “watch list,” the commission also released its annual recommendations to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about “countries of particular concern.” This is a list of countries where governments, the commission says, have “engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious violations of the universal right to freedom of religion or belief.”

     This is seen as a more serious category than that of the “watch list.” The commission’s recommendations for 2007 are: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

     The commission was created by the U.S. Congress in 1998 to monitor the status of freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief outside the United States and provides independent policy recommendations to the U.S. government.