FOREIGN POLICY UPDATE
June 21, 2019
INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The State Department released its 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom on June 21, 2019. According to Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, 80% of the world still lives in areas where religious freedom is under attack. He pointed out that: “Iran has one of the worst records on religious freedom in the world and continues to show a blatant disregard for protecting individuals’ religious freedom.”
“Countless members of Iranian religious minorities, including Baha’is, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Sunni and Sufi Muslims, face discrimination, harassment, and unjust imprisonment because of their beliefs. Their religious books are banned. They are denied access to education. Their cemeteries are desecrated. Blasphemy and proselytization of Muslims is punishable by death.”
Last year, he said, the Iranian regime violently cracked down on the peaceful protest of Gonabadi Sufi dervishes in what Human Rights Watch called “one of the largest crackdowns against a religious minority in Iran in a decade.” He reaffirmed the United States always will stand up for religious freedom.
INDIA
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is traveling to India to meet with Prime Minister Modi and his new counterpart, Minister of External Affairs Jaishankar to accelerate the relationship and to set additional goals. A senior State Department official briefing the media noted that Jaishankar is “really one of the visionaries behind the expansion of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership.”
According to the senior official, India has stopped its importation of Iranian oil, with an exception for humanitarian relief supplies to Afghanistan. The United States has worked to increase its crude oil production to ensure its partners have a staple supply in recent months.
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The Trump Administration also has taken the unprecedented step of offering the armed UAV Sea Guardian to India, the first non-treaty partner to be offered that high technology. The US eased the process and granted India Strategic Trade Authorization Tier-1 status that gives them the same license-free access to defense articles as Washington’s NATO allies, Japan, South Korea, and Australia.
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
Secretary of State Pompeo released a new Trafficking in Persons Report this week commending those countries that have taken action to stop the abuse of human traffickers. He noted that nations like Senegal, as well as Mongolia, the Philippines, Tajikistan, and others have improved conditions but also called out those nations that aren’t doing enough.
Tier 3 designations – the lowest possible designation – were given once again to China, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Venezuela, among others. The Secretary noted that a few countries, including Cuba, were added to the Tier 3 list. In some case, the governments allow human traffickers to run free or are human traffickers themselves. In North Korea, the government subjects its own citizens to forced labor both at home and abroad and then uses proceeds to fund nefarious activities. According to the report, in China, authorities have detained more than a million members of ethnically Muslim minority groups in internment camps. Many, it states, are forced to produce garments, carpets, cleaning supplies, and other goods for domestic sale.
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.
Illustration: Pixabay