DHARAMSHALA: The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) in its 2015 annual report, published 30 April, recommends that China be designated as a ‘country of particular concern (CPC)’ based on an alarming increase in systematic, egregious and ongoing abuses of religious freedom in the country. The US state department has designated China as CPC since 1999, most recently in July 2014.
This year’s report, the 16th since the Commission’s creation in 1998, documents religious freedom violations in 33 countries, makes country-specific recommendations, and assesses the U.S. government’s implementation of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA).
On its report on China, it said “In 2014, the Chinese government took steps to consolidate further its authoritarian monopoly of power over all aspects of its citizen’s lives. For religious freedom, this has meant unprecedented violation against Uighur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, and Falun Gong Practitioners.”
“People of faith continue to face arrests, fines, denials of justice, lengthy prison sentences, and in some cases, the closing or bulldozing of places of worship,” the report added.
On its section on Tibetan Buddhists, the report said that “Since 2008, the Chinese government has imposed harsh policies of repression on Buddhists across the Tibetan plateau, including harassment, imprisonment, and torture.”
The report documented the Chinese government’s campaign of repression involving the destruction of religious structures and restrictions that force young monks out of monasteries.
“Moreover, the Chinese continued its vilification of the Dalai Lama, including accusing him of seeking Tibetan independence, which he has repeatedly denied,” the report said.
The annual report also mentioned Goshul Lobsang, a Tibetan political prisoner who died shortly following his release from prison after suffering extreme malnourishment and brutal torture such as regular injections and stabbings. It also mentioned the case of Khenpo Kartse, a Tibetan religious leader, who was sentenced to two-and-half years imprisonment for allegedly protecting a fugitive monk.
In light of the rampant violation of religious freedom in the country, the commission in its role as an independent U.S. federal government advisory body, recommended the US government to consistently raise religious freedom concerns at the US-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue and other bilateral meetings, urge the Chine government to release its prisoners of conscience, initiate a ‘whole of government’ approach to human rights diplomacy with China and press China to uphold its international obligations.
