US commission: Put India, Russia on religious freedom blacklist

The annual report offers recommendations to presidents and Congress on religious freedom and foreign policy.

An independent United States’ commission has called for India, Russia, Vietnam and Syria to be added to a State Department blacklist on religious freedom. The US Commission on International Religious Freedom, an independent government panel that gives recommendations to presidential administrations and Congress, said the four countries should be designated as “countries of particular concern” (CPC) on the State Department list, which currently includes Myanmar, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. In particular, the recommendation of India as a CPC, the second year the commission has done so, has in the past been controversial.