India has said in the past that the US body on international religious freedom has chosen to be guided only by its prejudices on a matter on which it has no right to interfere. The recommendations of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) are not binding on the US government.
Which countries were described as countries of special concern?
Other countries that the USCIRF has recommended for classification in its annual report include Burma, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. The USCRF made a similar recommendation to the US government last year which was not accepted by the Biden administration. India has also rejected USCIRF reports in the past.
India has always been rejecting reports
The Ministry of External Affairs had earlier said that our principled stand is that we do not see any authority from any foreign institution on the status of constitutionally protected rights of our citizens. The Ministry of External Affairs had said that India has a strong public discourse and constitutionally mandated institutions that guarantee religious freedom and protection of the rule of law.
Last year the US government did not accept the recommendation on India
In its recommendations last year, five countries – Afghanistan, India, Nigeria, Syria and Vietnam – have not been classified by the US government as countries of particular concern. The USCRF said that in 2021, the state of religious freedom in India deteriorated significantly. During the year, the Indian government increased the promotion and enforcement of policies – including promoting a Hindu-nationalist agenda – that negatively affected Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and other religious minorities.
US body finds ‘shortcoming’ in India’s laws
She said that the government continued to organize its ideological vision of a Hindu nation at both the national and state levels through the use of existing and new laws and structural changes hostile to the country’s religious minorities. Established by the US government in 1998, USCIRF recommendations are non-binding on the State Department. Traditionally, India does not recognize the USCIRF’s approach. For more than a decade it has denied visas to members of the USCIRF.