The United States has blacklisted Nigeria as one of the countries engaging in religious freedom violations. The US Secretary, Mike Pompeo announced this via his Twitter account yesterday, saying his country will continue to act when “religious freedom is attacked.”
Pompeo revealed that the list of the annual designation is China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Eritrea.
Although the secretary of the states did not state clearly states why Nigeria was added to the list, however, he said, “No country or entity should be allowed to persecute people with impunity because of their beliefs”.
His statement reads, “Today the U.S. designates Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, the DPRK, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as countries of concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for engaging systematic, ongoing, egregious religious freedom violations,” he tweeted.
Pompeo notably did not target India, an increasingly close partner of the United States.
India earlier this year uttered outrage when the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which provides recommendations to the State Department, called for India’s blacklisting over what it said was a sharp downturn under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a Hindu nationalist.
Pompeo continued “The U.S. is unwavering in its commitment to religious freedom. No country or entity should be allowed to persecute people with impunity because of their beliefs. These annual designations show that when religious freedom is attacked, we will act.
“The U.S. is sanctioning the senior leadership of China’s National People’s Congress in connection with developing, adopting, and implementing the National Security Law. We will hold Beijing accountable for destroying Hong Kong’s autonomy. #StandWithHongKong #FightForFreedom.”
The International religious freedom report explained the status of religious freedom in every country and it includes government policies which seek to attack religious belief and practices, religious denomination, and individuals practicing them.
The US in its 2019 country report on human rights practices expressed concern over intolerance by some countries against religious practice when action by some state actors is anything to go by.
The US Department of State disclosed that economic sanctions await such countries that are engaged in severe religious freedom violations.
According to the report, it revealed that Congress is first notified when a particular country is violating religious freedom.
“And where non-economic policy options designed to bring about a cessation of the particularly severe violations of religious freedom have reasonably been exhausted, an economic measure generally must be imposed,” it said.
