WND

U.S. PANEL NAMES RUSSIA AS RELIGIOUS PERSECUTOR

Moscow on list for 1st time in commission's 20-year existence

Art Moore

For the first time in its two decades of existence, the federal government’s independent panel commissioned by Congress to investigate religious persecution worldwide is recommending that the State Department designate Russia a “country of particular concern.”

In its annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, or USCIRF, named Russia among 16 countries that commit “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”

The president officially has the authority to designate a “country of particular concern,” but the task is delegated to the secretary of state, who is given a range of “flexible” policy options to address the violations of religious freedom. The options can include sanctions or a waiver of actions, but the secretary of state, for the sake of U.S. interests, can decide not to take any action.

This year, USCIRF is recommending that the State Department again designate Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as countries of particular concern, or CPCs.

Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2017/04/u-s-panel-names-russia-as-religious-persecutor/#t1ITDK8esFX2QHjR.99