WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. International Commission on Religious Freedom singled out 28 countries for their repression of religious liberty in its annual report, issued Aug. 29. Sixteen countries were designated in the 228-page report as Tier 1 - the harshest level of repression: Myanmar, Central African Republic, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

A Tier 1 country, the report said, is “any country whose government engages in or tolerates particularly severe religious freedom violations, meaning those that are systematic, ongoing, and egregious. The State Dept. most recently made CPC (country of particular concern) designations in December 2017.” Another 12 were listed as Tier 2 countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Laos, Malaysia and Turkey. Tier 2 is defined by USCIRF as “nations in which the violations engaged in or tolerated by the government during 2017 are serious and characterized by at least one of the elements of the ‘systematic, ongoing and egregious’ CPC standard.”

Crux - International religious freedom report cites 28 nations falling short