The United States will host the first ever ministerial meeting to advance religious freedom around the world this summer, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Tuesday at the unveiling of his agency’s annual International Religious Freedom report.
The event, which will take place July 25 and July 26 in Washington, will provide an opportunity to “break new ground,” Pompeo said, and will not just be a “discussion group.”In his remarks, Pompeo stressed his commitment to international religious freedom and insisted the United States “will not stand by as spectators” on the issue.Even so, critics say the Trump administration’s focus on religious freedom is undermined by President Donald Trump’s own vocal criticism of Muslim immigrants, and worry the increased focus on this issue is forcing other concerns, such as women’s reproductive rights or LGBTI rights, to the back burner.Briefing reporters on the report Tuesday, US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback called religious freedom “a foundational human right” from which other rights stem.“We put forward in the report everything that’s happening around the world,” Brownback said, “and we report it without favor or analysis.”The report calls out abuses from US friends and foes alike. It notes the criminal detention of religious figures in Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as North Korea and Iran.It also records “fewer instances of violence based on religious identity” in Russia, compared to previous years, as well as a drop in “cases of violations of religious freedom or belief” in Cuba.Despite its strong ties to the United States, Saudi Arabia has long been cited for violations of religious freedom in the annual State Department report, as is the case again this year.The country’s legal system criminalizes atheism, as well as efforts to undermine Islam, the report notes, and there is a pattern in the country of “societal prejudice and discrimination against Shia Muslims.”
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