U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedoms includes Vietnam among 11 worst nations

The 1998 International Religious Freedom Act requires the United States to identify "countries whose governments have engaged in or tolerated systematic and egregious violations of the universal right to freedom of religion or belief."

The act created the federal panel that annually surveys world religious freedom and gives recommendations to the president, secretary of state and Congress. The law allows policy responses to listed countries, such as sanctions.

The commission said it is troubled the State Department has not made any designations or redesignations since 2006, even though it issued a report on religious freedom in September.

"While IRFA does not set a specific deadline for the CPC [countries of particular concern] designations, the fact that those designations are based on that review indicates that they should be made in a timely way thereafter," the committee said in a report.

The group said the inaction "may send the unfortunate signal that the U.S. government is not sufficiently committed to the IRFA process, including by seeking improvements from the most severe religious freedom violators."

Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan are on the latest State Department list, prepared in November 2006. The panel recommends adding Vietnam, which had been removed from the last listing, as well as Pakistan and Turkmenistan.

The commission made these observations.

·  Myanmar: "Directed increasing repression at ethnic and religious minorities, democracy activists, and international humanitarian agencies over the past year." The crackdown on September demonstrations by Buddhist monks was cited.

·  China: "Severe crackdowns targeting Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims, 'underground' Roman Catholics, 'house church' Protestants, and various spiritual movements such as Falun Gong continue unabated."

·  Sudan: Pursued "coercive policies of Arabization and Islamization resulting in genocide" in the Darfur region and imposed severe restrictions on religious freedom and other human rights. Christians and followers of local religions have been victimized in a decades-long North-South war.

·  Iran: Baha'is, Sufi Muslims and evangelical Christians "face relentless arrests, imprisonment, and harassment." Fears among Iran's Jews have grown due to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's repeated denials of the Holocaust and other anti-Semitic statements.

·  Eritrea: There have been "arbitrary arrests and detention without charge of members of unregistered religious groups, and the torture or other ill-treatment of hundreds of persons on account of their religion, sometimes resulting in death."

·  North Korea: No "protections for universal human rights, including religious freedom," and religion is perceived as a security threat.

·  Saudi Arabia: "Serious violations of freedom of religion ... by banning all forms of public religious expression other than that of the government's own interpretation of one school of Sunni Islam and by interfering with private religious practice. "

·  Uzbekistan: Muslims arrested, groups repressed, mosques closed, targeting groups "that do not conform to government-prescribed practices or that it alleges to be associated with extremist political programs."

·  Vietnam: "Severe religious freedom restrictions targeting some ethnic minority Protestants and Buddhists, Vietnamese Mennonites, Hoa Hao Buddhists, and monks and nuns associated with the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam."

·  Pakistan: Sectarian and religiously motivated violence continues, particularly against Shiite Muslims, Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus. The government's response remains "inadequate."

·  Turkmenistan: "Significant religious freedom problems and official harassment of religious adherents persist." Registered and unregistered religious groups harassed.