The State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom report tracks threats to religious freedom in almost 200 countries. The threats it documents come from governments, violent extremist groups, and individuals acting with hatred and often impunity.
The report also documents steps countries are taking to defend and promote religious freedom. At the rollout of the most recent report, Secretary of State Antony Blinken pointed to significant examples:
“Last November Czechia brought officials, practitioners, faith and civil society leaders from some 60 countries to share ways to push back against authoritarian governments that are cracking down on religious freedom. Saudi Arabia continues to remove exclusionary and hateful language against religious minorities from its public-school textbooks, introducing new editions that promote peace and tolerance. In Germany, authorities are working with survivors to prosecute ISIS fighters who carried out genocide and atrocities against Yazidis, Christians, Shia Muslims, and other religious minorities in both Iraq and in Syria.”
The United States, he said, will continue to stand with our partners and work to advance religious freedom across the globe:
“Since 2021, we’ve dedicated more than $100 million to this effort. We’ve supported initiatives to prevent religious-based violence. We’ve provided legal assistance to people who are facing religious persecution. We’ve trained thousands of human rights defenders who are helping to document abuses. We’ve also continued hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to support those fleeing religious oppression. Over generations, our nation has welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees facing religious persecution. We work relentlessly to secure the release of people in prison for exercising their right to religious freedom around the globe.”
Individuals around the world are also working hard to promote religious freedom, said Secretary Blinken:
“We see that in the religious leaders advocating … on behalf of the Baha’is, who are being suppressed and persecuted in Iran and across the Middle Ealse; in activists like Rushan Abbas, who is raising awareness about the genocide and crimes against humanity that China is committing against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjiang.”
To such individuals and countries Secretary Blinken had a message: “In this effort to defend, to protect religious freedom, to advance it, we’re all in this together.”
