The United States is working with international partners to defend human rights worldwide as authoritarian regimes step up repression amid the COVID-19 pandemic. “Standing for people’s freedom and dignity honors America’s most sacred values,” Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said March 30, announcing the release of the
2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices . “At our best, we stand for ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 1 April, 2021 | Topics: Health Issues, History, Human Rights, Key Officials, News | Tags: China, freedom of religion, Secretary Blinken, Uyghurs
The People’s Republic of China is stepping up baseless prosecutions of Uyghur and other Muslim minorities, sentencing innocent people to years in prison, a new report says. In a February 24 report, Human Rights Watch says that the PRC’s judicial system in Xinjiang has sentenced 250,000 Uyghur and other ethnic minorities to prison, and that ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 15 March, 2021 | Topics: History, Human Rights, News | Tags: China, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, Uyghurs
Ever since the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum opened its doors in 1993, its scholars have been educating visitors about the horrors of Nazi Germany’s genocide of European Jews (and other targeted victims) leading up to and during World War II. But the Washington-based museum also has another important mission: helping the general public — as ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 4 February, 2021 | Topics: History, Human Rights, News | Tags: civil society, freedom of religion, social activism, WWII
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using big data and surveillance to target Uyghurs for detention based on behaviors that are allowed under the laws of the People’s Republic of China, such as studying the Quran or calling family abroad. Human Rights Watch says in a new report that the CCP uses its
Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP) to scan ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 5 January, 2021 | Topics: History, Human Rights, Key Officials, News | Tags: China, cultural preservation, freedom of religion, technology, Uyghurs
The United States is calling out “egregious violations” of religious freedom worldwide, as many regimes continue to criminalize expressions of religious faith. On December 7, U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo designated the governments of Iran, China, North Korea and a half dozen other nations as “countries of particular concern” for engaging in or ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 4 January, 2021 | Topics: Human Rights, Key Officials, News, News from Washington | Tags: civil society, freedom of religion, Sanctions, Secretary Pompeo
In the 80 years since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt delivered his
Four Freedoms speech — citing freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear — the United States has made these democratic principles central to its foreign policy. Today, the United States continues to champion human rights as a critical component of U.S. ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 8 December, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, Key Officials, News | Tags: China, civil society, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, press freedom
U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo is rallying world leaders to stand strong against religious persecution wherever it occurs. From November 16 to 17, the government of Poland hosted the third Ministerial to Advance Freedom of Religion or Belief. In
Pompeo’s opening remarks for the event, held virtually this year, the secretary urged the representatives of more ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 23 November, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, Key Officials, News | Tags: China, freedom of religion, Georgia, Secretary Pompeo, Uyghurs
The Chinese Communist Party’s human rights violations are drawing international outcry. Dozens of countries demand the CCP end its mass internment of Uyghurs and other abuses. In an
October 6 joint statement to the United Nations , 39 countries fault the CCP’s increasing number of “gross human rights violations” against ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang province and the regime’s authoritarian behavior in ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 29 October, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, News | Tags: China, civic equality, cultural preservation, freedom of religion, United Nations
As the U.S. military becomes more diverse, its rules and regulations are expanding to reflect the United States’ commitment to religious freedom. Kanwar Singh, a devout Sikh, sought to enlist in the U.S. Army in 2014. In keeping with his religious faith, he wanted to maintain a beard and wear a turban. At the time, ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 28 October, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, News | Tags: civic equality, freedom of religion, Sikh Americans
To mark International Religious Freedom Day, ShareAmerica spoke with the U.S. State Department’s Sam Brownback, ambassador at large for international religious freedom. Here are his answers, slightly edited for length, to our questions: Q: Why is defending freedom of religion an objective of U.S. diplomacy? A: With more than 80 percent of the world’s population living ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 22 October, 2020 | Topics: Human Rights, Key Officials, News | Tags: China, cultural preservation, freedom of religion, Iran
U.S. Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo is urging world leaders to recommit to protecting the human rights of all people. Pompeo called for nations to rededicate themselves to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights at a September 23 panel discussion on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting. “We must ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 24 September, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, Key Officials, News | Tags: freedom of religion, Secretary Pompeo, United Nations
The U.S. government is taking steps to address forced labor camps in China’s Xinjiang region. The Chinese Communist Party is repressing millions of Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic minorities there, using “re-education” camps, forced sterilization, and destruction of religious sites. The U.S. is blocking the import of goods made with forced labor, sanctioning Chinese ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 10 September, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, News | Tags: China, freedom of religion, Trade, Uyghurs
The United States has imposed sanctions on senior Iranian officials responsible for continuing the regime’s long-standing persecution of religious minorities. Iran’s constitution states that it protects the equal rights of “all people of Iran.” Yet since 1979 the regime has systematically harassed, arrested and executed members of religious minorities, the U.S. Commission on International Religious ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 9 September, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, News | Tags: freedom of religion, Iran, Sanctions
Freedom of religion is under attack in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, due to authoritarian regimes determined to control expressions of faith. Dictators in the countries, or their proxies, have burned churches and harassed or teargassed worshipers, U.S. Agency for International Development Acting Administrator John Barsa told an August 20 discussion on religious freedom in the ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 26 August, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, News | Tags: Cuba, freedom of religion, Nicaragua, Terrorism, venezuela
By
Leigh Hartman – Jul 27, 2020 The U.S. has imposed sanctions against senior Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials responsible for “horrific and systematic abuses” against members of Muslim minority groups in Xinjiang.
The July 9 sanctions , issued by the U.S. departments of Treasury and State, target Chen Quanguo, the party’s secretary in Xinjiang, who oversees
internment camps where more than 1 ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 27 July, 2020 | Topics: Human Rights, News from Washington | Tags: China, freedom of religion, Sanctions, Secretary Pompeo, Uyghurs
Report: CCP conducts mass sterilization of minority women (July 6) The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is conducting a campaign of mass sterilization of women as part of its repression of Uyghur and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, a new report says. Using Chinese government documents and interviews with survivors, the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 6 July, 2020 | Topics: Human Rights, News, News from Washington | Tags: China, cultural preservation, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, Uyghurs
Pompeo: No country cares more for religious freedom (June 10) The United States’ commitment to the protection of religious freedom around the world is unwavering. “There is no other nation that cares so deeply about religious freedom,” Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said. Pompeo and Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam ...
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By U.S. Embassy Tbilisi | 10 June, 2020 | Topics: History, Human Rights, Key Officials, News, News from Washington | Tags: China, freedom of religion, Secretary Pompeo
