Washington D.C., Mar 31, 2009 / 00:03 am
Newly public information shows that the U.S. State Department in January rejected a recommendation that Iraq be named a Country of Particular concern due to “especially dire” threats to minorities’ religious freedoms. The State Department also granted waivers for Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia, where religious freedom violations have been called “appalling.”
A U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) press release reports that on Jan. 16 Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice formally designated Burma, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, the People’s Republic of China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan as Countries of Particular Concern (CPC). The Bush administration classified the same countries as CPCs in 2006.
The latest CPC list was not made available until last week, when the State Department released it in response to a USCIRF inquiry.
The president is required to encourage improvements in CPC countries through tools such as sanctions. CPCs may be granted a waiver on such restrictions if the president determines it is in U.S. interests. Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan were given waivers by the outgoing Bush administration, while no sanction was cited to be applied to any other country.