August 11, 2016•Update: August 11, 2016
By Esra Kaymak Avci
WASHINGTON
The U.S. on Wednesday raised concerns about religious bigotry and intolerance around the world in a report released by the State Department.
"Every country has an obligation to respect religious liberty and freedom of conscience. We encourage every country to do so," Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken said while releasing the report.
The International Religious Freedom Report for 2015 covers almost 200 countries and highlights concerns about laws that penalize blasphemy and apostasy in countries such as Afghanistan, Mauritania, Pakistan, Sudan and Saudi Arabia.
The laws and weak legal protections do not properly protect human rights in those countries, according to the report that highlighted harassment, discrimination, violence and genocide against religious minorities by Daesh in Syria and Boko Haram in West Africa, saying the two groups "continued to rank amongst the most egregious abusers of religious freedom in the world."
In Syria, the government and its Shia militia allies killed, arrested, and physically abused Sunni Muslims and other minority groups, and intentionally destroyed their property, it said.
And Sunni Muslims in Iran, Shiite Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, Christians in China, and residents of North Korea face a lack of religious freedom, it added.
Regarding religious freedom in Turkey, the report said the government there promoted the reopening of several places of worship for different religious minority groups.
It cited religious services being allowed at the Mardin Protestant Church in Artuklu that was reopened after 60 years following extensive renovations paid for by the church’s foundation.
The General Directorate of Foundations, a Turkish governmental institution, restored the historic Edirne Synagogue at a cost of $2 million (5.75 million Turkish liras) and the government re-opened and permitted the building to be used for religious celebrations last March.
U.S. criticism of religious intolerance around the world comes at a time when Muslims living in the U.S. feel they are under attack.
According to a tally by California State University San Bernardino college professor Brian Levin, hate crimes targeting Muslims, mosques and Islamic businesses, tripled in 2015 compared to a year earlier, NBC News reported.
Tensions were exacerbated when Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said last December that all Muslims should be banned from entering the U.S. His remarks were delivered in the wake of two separate deadly terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, occurring less than three weeks apart.
US embassies prepare initial drafts of the reports based on information from groups including government officials, religious leaders, nongovernmental organizations, journalists, human rights monitors, religious groups and academics, and the State Department submits the final annual report to Congress in compliance with the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).
