The General Assembly, in its resolution A/RES/73/296, designated August 22 as the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief recognising the importance of providing victims of acts of violence based on religion or belief and members of their families with appropriate support and assistance in accordance with applicable law.
Freedom of religion and belief is an inalienable human right. Faith and belief should never attract violence.
Violence Based on Religion or Belief
Religious violence may be defined as violence committed in the name of religion. It is both intra-religious violence and inter-religious violence; i.e. violence within the group and violence against other groups. In most categories, violence based on religion or belief has increased significantly in recent years. Government force based on religion or belief is on the rise, while mob violence, property damage, and the use or threat of violence to impose religious norms by non-state actors are growing concerns. And though the number of religion-related armed conflicts is declining, they continue to have a tremendous impact on civilians.
Violence done in the name of religion is not a new phenomenon, nor is it confined to just one faith tradition. The causes of religiously motivated violence, however, have taken on new importance in the modern age, particularly with its connection to recent acts of terrorism and social violence, such as the rise of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, the persecution of Muslims by Buddhist monks in Myanmar, the emergence of Hindu nationalism in India, and the Christian Identity movement in the United States, to name but a few examples.
Here is a list of countries that rank worst in the world in Religious Freedom
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released a new report on May 01, 2024, highlighting the countries with the worst religious persecution in the world.
Here are some of the countries with the most concerning religious freedom trends in the year 2023:
Afghanistan: Religious freedom and free expression have continued to deteriorate in Afghanistan under Taliban rule, according to the report. The country is violently enforcing an apostasy law that bans conversions from Islam. The report also said that in 2023 the Taliban implemented a series of measures to seriously restrict women’s dress, movement, access to education, and employment.'
Azerbaijan: A majority Muslim country, Azerbaijan was included in USCIRF’s CPC list this year for the first time. The country has been increasingly encroaching on the religious rights of both Azerbaijani Muslims as well as of ethnic minorities, such as the Armenian Christians. According to the report, Azerbaijani citizens are “routinely” harassed, fined, and imprisoned based on their religious activities. The report said that 183 “peaceful believers” were unjustly imprisoned in Azerbaijan in 2023 because of their religious beliefs or activities.
China: The second most populous country in the world, China is a mainstay of USCIRF’s CPC list because of its continued “sinicization” program, which subjects all its citizens and all religions in the country to the ideology of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Under China’s communist government, all religions are strictly controlled by the state and any unauthorized religious activity is dealt with severely. In 2023, the report said, Chinese authorities continued to “forcibly disappear” and convict underground Catholic priests, including two bishops. The government also continues to subject the Muslim Uyghurs to forced labour and indoctrination camps and to persecute and imprison thousands of members of the Falun Gong religious movement.
India: India is the world’s most populated country, with an estimated 1.4 billion people. The majority of its population is Hindu (79.8 per cent), with minority Muslim (14.2 per cent), Christian (2.3 per cent), and Sikh (1.7 percent) communities. Smaller religious groups include Buddhists, India is increasingly emerging as a leader on the world stage. Despite this, India, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu Nationalist government, has witnessed deteriorating religious freedom conditions.
Though the country’s constitution protects the right to practice one’s faith, much of the country enforces anti-conversion laws. According to the report, thousands of Christians and Muslims were subjected to attacks and intimidation in 2023 while hundreds of churches and mosques were destroyed.
Iran: Citizens in the Islamic Republic of Iran continue to suffer “extremely poor” religious freedom conditions, according to the report. In 2023, protesters against the government’s mandatory hijab laws and other restrictions on religion were systematically harassed, arrested, raped, tortured, and, in some cases, executed. Religious minorities, including Sunni Muslims, were severely punished, sometimes executed, whenever caught violating the country’s strict Islamic law.
Nicaragua: Nicaraguan dictators Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo intensified their persecution of the Catholic Church and other religious groups in 2023. In the last year, the dictatorship seized the assets and properties of Catholic churches, monasteries, and schools and arbitrarily imprisoned and exiled hundreds of Catholics and political dissidents. Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a longtime critic of the Ortega-Murillo regime, was sentenced to 26 years in prison, where he spent all of 2023 with little to no contact with the outside world. This January he was exiled from Nicaragua to the Vatican.
Nigeria: More than 8,000 Christians were killed across Nigeria last year, according to the report. On Christmas weekend alone, a series of attacks resulted in the deaths of 190 Christians in Nigeria’s Plateau state. Nigerian Christians, who make up 46% of the population, were the victims of widespread attacks, kidnappings, torture, and acts of intimidation by criminal elements that were largely ignored by the Nigerian government.
Pakistan: Terrorist attacks against religious minorities and places of worship increased significantly in Pakistan in 2023, according to the report. The government moved to further strengthen prohibitions against “blasphemy,” which observers say is a method of targeting religious minorities. In August a mob attacked a Christian community in Jaranwala over an accusation of blasphemy. The mob destroyed and looted many homes in the community and damaged at least 24 churches.
2024 Report on International Religious Freedom: India (USCIRF Report)
About This Report
Created by IRFA ( International Religious Freedom Act), USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. government advisory body, separate from the State Department, that monitors and reports on religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. USCIRF bases these recommendations on the provisions of its authorizing legislation and the standards in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and other international documents. USCIRF’s mandate and annual reports are different from, and complementary to, the mandate and annual reports of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom.
According to USCIRF Report, In 2023, religious freedom conditions in India continued to deteriorate. The government, led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reinforced discriminatory nationalist policies, perpetuated hateful rhetoric, and failed to address communal violence disproportionately affecting Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits, Jews, and Adivasis (indigenous peoples). Continued enforcement of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), and anti-conversion and cow slaughter laws resulted in the arbitrary detention, monitoring, and targeting of religious minorities and those advocating on their behalf.
In June 2023, more than 500 churches and two synagogues were destroyed and over 70,000 people displaced during clashes in Manipur State. In December 2023, the Indian Supreme Court upheld the government’s 2019 revocation of Article 370, dissolving special status and autonomy to the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Throughout the year, violence against Muslims and their places of worship continued. Several mosques were destroyed under police presence and vigilantes attacked Muslims under the guise of protecting cows from slaughter, deemed illegal in 18 states.
India’s constitution establishes a secular and democratic state, with Article 25 granting freedom of conscience to all. Section 295 of India’s Penal Code criminalizes the destruction or damage of houses of worship. In 2023, the Indian government introduced three bills to reform the country’s criminal code, which could target religious minorities by expanding police powers for “preventative action” and punishments for acts of terrorism.
India slams USCIRF, describes it as biased entity with political agenda
India on May 01 2024 hit out at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) and said that it is trying to “interfere” in the Lok Sabha election process. Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal dismissed the organisation as "biased" and driven by a "political agenda", stating that the USCIRF's report is nothing more than "propaganda masquerading as part of an annual report".
