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U.S. Emphasizes Religious Freedom at U.N. Opening

Yesterday,the United States co-sponsored with Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom a panel discussion on “The Human Rights Crisis in Xinjiang” on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.  U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John J. Sullivan, UN Special Advisor on the Responsibility to Protect Karen Smith, and others delivered remarks.  Speakers expressed alarm about China’s ongoing repression campaign against Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs, ethnic Kyrgyz, and members of other Muslim minorities in Xinjiang.  They called attention to the mass detention of more than one million individuals in internment camps since April 2017, and recognized the credible reports of deaths, forced labor, torture, and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment taking place in these camps.

U.S. Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Samuel D. Brownback moderated the panel, which featured victims of China’s repression campaign, including a survivor of the camps and individuals who are fighting to learn the fate of missing or detained family members. They shared heartbreaking and deeply personal stories of their experiences and the abuses those in Xinjiang endure on a daily basis.

Speakers called on members of the international community to speak up and urge China to change course, release all those in the camps, and demonstrate respect for the human rights of all its people.  They also encouraged the United Nations to demonstrate leadership on this issue and to closely monitor China’s human rights abuses, including the repression of freedom of religion or belief.

The U.S. emphasis was not limited to China.  In conjunction with the opening of the U.N.’s latest session, the White House noted that “President Donald J. Trump is putting religious freedom on center stage at the United Nations.”

Interestingly, the Trump Administration included issues involving domestic American religious freedom disputes in its statement:

  • President Trump is hosting the Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom event, calling on the international community and business leaders to work to protect religious freedom.
  • The President is calling on all nations to act to bring an end to religious persecution and stop crimes against people of faith.
  • The State Department has hosted two Religious Freedom Ministerials, during which more than 100 governments and religious leaders committed to fight religious persecution.
    • The Administration is spearheading the International Religious Freedom Alliance, an alliance of nations dedicated to confronting religious persecution around the world.
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  • The Administration has taken steps to protect victims of all faiths from religious violence.
    • The Administration will dedicate an additional $25 million to protect religious freedom and religious sites and relics.
    • The Department of Justice hosted its Summit on Combating Anti-Semitism in July.
    • The United States has provided humanitarian aid to help Christians and Yazidis who suffered at the hands of ISIS and to help Rohingya Muslim refugees fleeing persecution.

SAFEGUARDING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AT HOME: President Trump has made it a priority to support every American’s fundamental right to religious freedom enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

  • In 2017, President Trump signed an executive order to advance religious freedom, restoring the ideals that have undergirded our Nation since its founding.
  • The President took action to ensure Americans and organizations are not forced to violate their religious or moral beliefs by complying with Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate.
  • The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established a new Conscience and Religious Freedom division to help direct the agency’s efforts to protect religious freedom.
  • HHS took action to protect the right of healthcare entities to act according to their conscience.
  • This year, the Administration finalized a rule providing more flexibility for Federal employees whose religious beliefs require them to abstain from work on certain days.
  • The Administration has unequivocally stood for religious freedom in the courts.

COMBATING A GLOBAL CRISIS: The Trump Administration’s efforts to advance religious freedom are vital to combating rising levels of violence around the globe.  

  • Eighty-three percent of the world’s population lives in nations where religious freedom is threatened or banned.
  • The Trump Administration is deeply concerned for the more than 1 million Uighurs interned in Chinese internment camps.
  • Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world.
  • Jews, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Baha’is, humanists, and non-believers alike—almost every group has been increasingly persecuted over the past decade.

Photo: Pixabay