USCIRF International Religious Freedom Report:
India rejected the International Religious Freedom Report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF), labeling it a biased organization with a political agenda.
Highlights of the USCIRF Report (2024):
- The report called for India to be designated as a “Country of Particular Concern”(CPC).
- Countries that commit systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom are designated as a CPC by the US State Department.
- The report states that vigilante groups killed, assaulted, and lynched individuals, while religious leaders were unjustly arrested, and homes and places of worship were destroyed.
- It also criticised the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019, Uniform Civil Code, and state-level anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws.
- USCIRF is a US federal commission established in 1998 under the International Religious Freedom Act, with commissioners appointed by the President and congressional leaders from both parties.
- It is based on international human rights standards, especially Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that ensured freedom of religion.
- It monitors the universal right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) in countries other than the US.
