"Around the world, governments and non-state actors harass, threaten, jail, and even kill individuals on account of their beliefs," said Secretary of State Antony Blinken while announcing the designations.
"In some instances, they stifle individuals’ freedom of religion or belief to exploit opportunities for political gain."
Noting that such actions sow division, undermine economic security, and threaten political stability and peace, the top US diplomat said his country "will not stand by in the face of these abuses".
Therefore, "today, I am announcing designations against Burma (Myanmar), the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea
...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age...
, Iran, Nicaragua, the DPRK (North Korea
...hereditary Communist monarchy distinguished by its truculence and periodic acts of violence. Distinguishing features include Songun (Army First) policy, which involves feeding the army before anyone but the Dear Leadership, and Juche, which is Kim Jong Il's personal interpretation of Marxism-Leninism, which he told everybody was brilliant. In 1950 the industrialized North invaded agrarian South Korea. Twenty-one countries of the United Nations eventually contributed to the UN force opposing the invasion, with the United States providing around 90% of the military personnel. Seventy years later the economic results are in and it doesn't look good for Juche...
), Pakistain, Russia, Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan as Countries of Particular Concern ...for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom".
He said he was also placing Algeria, the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam on the Special Watch List for engaging in, or tolerating, severe violations of religious freedom.
Pakistain stayed on this several years before it was moved to the list of violators.
The Trump administration first placed Pakistain on this list in Dec 2018 and retained it in 2020 as well. The Biden administration, the same old faces in slightly different places, the same old ideas, the same old graft
...the collection of boodlers, grifters, hangers-on, and self-proclaimed expertsaffiliated with the Biden Crime Family. Entrusted with an entire nation as the result of a suspicious election, they set about happily implementing stuff they absorbed in college, all of which blew up and splattered the rest of us...
, which came to office in January last year, retained the old list with some changes, but kept Pakistain on it.
Countries are listed in this category for allegedly engaging in or tolerating "systematic, ongoing, (and) egregious violations of religious freedom".
Agencies add: Cuba, Nicaragua and Russia’s Wagner mercenary group were added to the blacklist on international religious freedom, opening the path to potential sanctions.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Wagner Group was being designated due to involvement in abuses in the Central African Republic, where nearly a decade of fighting has pitted Christians against Moslems.
Cuba and Nicaragua were both newly designated as "Countries of Particular Concern" under the annual determinations, meaning that the two leftist Latin American states _ already under US sanctions _ could face further measures.
Nicaragua’s increasingly authoritarian president, Daniel Ortega, has clamped down on the Catholic Church since accusing it of supporting 2018 protests against his government, which were crushed at the cost of hundreds of lives.
A bishop critical of the government, Rolando Alvarez, was put under house arrest in August with other priests and seminarians arrested on unspecified charges.