Secretary of State Blinken’s remarks to the press on the release of the 2020 International Religious Freedom Report

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken’s remarks to the press on the release of the 2020 International Religious Freedom Report, at the Department of State

Transcript

Good morning everyone. Uh, and thank you for joining us today. I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to introduce Secretary Blinken, who will speak to the Department’s International Religious Freedom Report. We will then hear from Office of International Religious Freedom, senior official dan Nadel, who will be happy to take your questions on this year’s report. Without further ado, I will turn over to Secretary Blinken. Yeah, thank you very much. Good morning everyone. So let me start first of all by pushing everyone. Good morning and mubarak to all who are celebrating. Um, before talking about the report. Um, I want to just take a minute to discuss what’s happening in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. We’re deeply concerned about what we’re seeing there. Uh, images that came out overnight are harrowing and the loss of any civilian life is a tragedy. I’ve asked uh, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State had a hammer uh, to go to the region immediately to meet with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. He will bring to bear his decades of experience. And in particular, he will urge on my behalf and on behalf of President biden de escalation of violence. We are very focused on this. The United States remains committed To a two state solution. This violence takes us further away from that goal. We fully support Israel’s legitimate right to defend itself. We’ve condemned and I condemn again the rocket attacks in the strongest possible terms. We believe Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live with safety and security and will continue to engage with Israelis. Palestinians and other regional partners to urge the escalation and to bring calm. Uh now, let me turn back to what brings us together this morning and that is the report today. The State Department is releasing the 2020 International Religious Freedom Report. We produced this document uh every year for 23 years. It offers a comprehensive review of the state of religious freedom in nearly 200 countries and territories around the world. And it reflects the collective effort of literally hundreds of american diplomats around the world and our Office of International Religious Freedom here in Washington, led by dan Nadel. And he’ll be taking some questions from you today on the report. Let me just say a few words about why this report matters. Uh religious freedom is a human right. In fact, it goes to the heart of what it means to be human, to think freely, to follow our conscience, to change our beliefs if our hearts and minds lead us to do so. To express those beliefs in public now and in private. This freedom is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It’s also part of the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. Our country’s commitment to defending freedom of religion and belief goes back centuries. It continues today. Religious freedom, like every human right is universal. All people everywhere are entitled to it no matter where they live, what they believe or what they don’t believe. Religious freedom is co equal with other human rights. Because human rights are indivisible. Religious freedom is not more or less important than the freedom to speak and assemble to participate in the political life of one’s country to live free from torture or slavery or any other human rights. Indeed they are all interdependent. Religious freedom can be fully realized unless other human rights are respected and when governments violate their people’s right to believe and worship freely, it jeopardizes all the others. And religious freedom is a key element of an open and stable society. Without it, people aren’t able to make their fullest contribution to their country’s success, and whenever human rights are denied it ignites tension, it breeds division. As this year’s International religious Freedom report indicates for many people around the world, this right is still out of reach. In fact, according to the Pew Research Center, 56 countries, encompassing a significant majority of the world’s people have high or severe restrictions on religious freedom to name just a few examples from this year’s report, Iran continues to intimidate harass and arrest members of minority faith groups, including the high christians, jews or austrians, Sunni and sufi Muslims. In Burma. The military coup leaders are among those responsible for ethnic cleansing and other atrocities against Rohingya, most of whom are muslim and other religious and ethnic minorities around the world. In Russia, authorities continue to harass, detain and seize property of Jehovah’s witnesses, as well as members of muslim minority groups on the pretense of alleged extremism in Nigeria courts continue to convict people of blasphemy, sentencing them to long term imprisonment or even death. Yet the government has still not brought anyone to justice for the military’s massacre of hundreds of Shia Muslims in 2015. Saudi Arabia remains the only country in the world without a christian church, though there are more than a million christians living in Saudi Arabia and authorities continue to jail. Human rights activists like Raef Badawi, Who was sentenced in 2014 to a decade in prison And 1000 lashes for speaking about his beliefs and china broadly criminalizes religious expression and continues to make to commit crimes against humanity and genocide against muslim leaders and members of other religious and ethnic minority groups. Today, I’m announcing the designation of You way former office director of the so called central leading group, preventing and dealing with radical religions of Chengdu for his involvement in gross violations of human rights, namely the arbitrary detention of Falun gong practitioners. You and his family are now ineligible for entry into the United States. I could go on. Uh the examples are far too numerous more broadly. We’re seeing anti Semitism on the rise worldwide, including here in the United States, as well as across europe. It’s a dangerous ideology that history has shown is often linked with violence. We must vigorously oppose it wherever it occurs. Anti muslim hatred is still widespread in many countries, and this too, is a serious problem for the United States as well as in europe. We have work to do to ensure that people of all faiths and backgrounds are treated with equal dignity and respect as this report notes, Some countries have taken positive steps forward and that too deserves comment. Last year, the civilian led transitional government in Sudan repealed apathy laws and public order laws that have been used to harass members of religious minority groups. Uzbekistan’s government has released hundreds of people who had been imprisoned because of their beliefs. Just this past Saturday Turkmenistan released 16 Jehovah’s witnesses who are conscientious objectors and refused to serve in the military. We understand the authorities will now offer conscientious objectors alternative ways to meet national service requirements. We want to see more progress like that. And so our promise to the world is that the biden Harris administration will protect and defend religious freedom around the world. We will maintain America’s longstanding leadership on this issue. We’re grateful for our partners, including like minded governments, the U. N. Human Rights Council and networks like the International Religious Freedom of Belief Alliance and the International Contact Group of freedom of religion or belief. We’ll continue to work closely with civil society organizations including human rights advocates and religious communities to combat all forms of religiously motivated hatred and discrimination around the world. Thank you very very much. And we look forward to being able to get into the report more detail. Mhm. I’ll take a couple questions before I take off there. It’s now clear that your cost for the escalation heard or at least haven’t been enough to stop it until now. Um We’re now beyond an escalation. Uh why are you just taking to these calls to um the escalation and restraint? What can you do further and to prevent a full out full scale war? And also have you personally talked or try to talk to the Palestinian leadership to President Abbas or others? And if not why? And who on the US side has been in touch with whom on the Palestinian side. Thank you, thank you. Uh a few things that are, I think very important here. Um We are deeply engaged across the board, the State Department, the White House senior officials with the Israelis with Palestinians with other countries and partners in the region. Two call for and push for de escalation be very clear again. We strongly condemn the rocket attacks coming out of Gaza that are targeting innocent Israeli civilians and Israel has a right to defend itself. Palestinians have a right to live in safety and security. And the most important thing going forward now is to take down the violence to deescalate and that’s exactly what we’re working towards. Jake. Sullivan, the national security adviser, has been engaged with his counterpart. I’ve talked to Foreign Minister Ashkenazi, uh Wendy Sherman, the Deputy Secretary of State has been engaged as well. And as I mentioned, just a short while ago, we are sending our senior official responsible for Israeli and Palestinian affairs uh, to the region. We’ve been engaged with all parties, including the Palestinians and that that will continue. But the most important thing now is for all sides to cease the violence, to deescalate and to try to move to come probably Um beyond engagement and calls for de escalation. I just want to reiterate. Is there anything more that the US. can do at this point? And my second question is, uh more than 50 people have been killed in Gaza, including more than a dozen Children. So given those casualties, do you think that Israeli response has been proportional? Mm. So, first, in terms of what we’re doing, the most important thing that we can do right now is exactly what we’re doing, which is to be engaged across the board and pushing on de escalation not only with Israelis and Palestinians, but also with other partners who are amplifying our voice. And as I said, we’re sending a senior diplomat to uh to the region to work on this. So that I think that pieces is uh is very important and our voice, our diplomacy from senior officials across the administration, I hope we’ll we’ll have an impact. Uh there is first a very clear and absolute distinction between a terrorist organization, Hamas that is indiscriminately raining down rockets, in fact targeting civilians. And Israel’s response defending itself, that is targeting the terrorists who are raining down rockets on Israel. But whenever we see civilian casualties and particularly when we see Children caught in the in the crossfire losing their lives, uh that has that has a powerful impact. And I think mm Israel has an extra burden in trying to do everything it possibly can to avoid civilian casualties, even as it is rightfully responding in defense of its people. And as I said, the Palestinian people have the right to safety and security and we have to I think all work in that direction. So the single most important thing right now is de escalation. We will continue to carry that message to our partners uh and uh to uh in Israel uh to the Palestinians uh and two partners in the region. Thanks very much. Thank you. Mhm. Mhm. Good morning and mubarak to all of our muslim friends celebrating the end of Ramadan. Thank you, Secretary Blinken for those clear and forceful remarks, underscoring our unyielding commitment to promote and defend. Excuse me, let me take this off so you can hear me to promote and defend freedom of religion or belief for all. I’m also very pleased to recognize our reports coordinator Bob Bone and his extraordinary editing team for their efforts to make this year’s report. All 2,397 pages a reality. Today we released the State Department’s 23rd Report on International Religious Freedom. Over the course of more than two decades, we are proud to say these reports have become an indispensable resource to governments, legislatures, activists, academics, civil society organizations and religious communities, the world over who value and seek to ensure this fundamental freedom. Our guiding principle in preparing the report is to present all relevant information as objectively thoroughly and fairly as possible and though couched in dry and at times, bureaucratic sounding language. What you see as you delve into the country chapters is a rich fabric of individual stories, stories that help us understand the experiences of individuals, of communities, sometimes entire societies. These reports include the personal costs, horrifying stories of discrimination, abuse, torture, disappearance, even death of someone’s parent, someone’s sibling, someone’s son or daughter for simply trying to organize their lives in accordance with their most basic values and beliefs. You will also see stories of those fighting back, challenging repressive regimes, countering extremist violence and building coalitions across religious and ethnic divides to combat discrimination, demand rights and promote shared values of human dignity, mutual respect and peace. So what do we do with this trove of information for the United States Government and for the Office of International Religious Freedom? We use it as a starting point for advocacy efforts that span the entire year and beyond. We use it as a baseline to understand whether and how things are getting better or worse in a place, whether past engagement has proven effective or should be recalibrated and whether the case of a particular individual or community has been resolved or requires further attention. But some might ask, doesn’t this take a lot of resources? What does the United States States actually get out of this investment 1st? The moral imperative is clear. We as a nation benefit immeasurably from the protections granted by our First Amendment, and it is only natural to want others to share in the wealth of that experience. Our efforts to advance international religious freedom are also firmly rooted in this knowledge. Countries that effectively safeguard this and other human rights are more peaceful, stable, prosperous, and more reliable partners of the United States than those that do not. Nations can never achieve their fullest potential when some are excluded from education, health care, jobs and other essentials, on account of their innermost beliefs or how they choose to manifest those beliefs. So it has long been recognized that promoting religious freedom is vital to America’s national security interests. Let me touch briefly on a few key themes that emerge in this year’s report. First efforts to criminalize forms of speech and expression are an ineffective and in fact counterproductive tool to promote religious harmony or combat intolerance. While blasphemy laws are particularly pernicious. We are also concerned about laws that aim to regulate a person’s ability to wear or not wear religious attire or symbols, or laws that criminalize proselytization or limit parents ability to provide religious education for their Children. Second excessive and onerous government regulation of religion and religious life, alienate citizens from their governments and increases the likelihood of individuals resorting to violence to defend their beliefs. Authorities in many countries continue to constrain religious expression through registration laws or restrictions on religious materials. We now increasingly see governments using the same tactic on the Internet, where officials closely monitor and heavily sensor religious expression online and to rest or harass those involved in online discourse on religion or belief. We strongly encourage governments to engage religious communities and faith leaders as partners and consult with these communities when contemplating changes to laws or policies that may impact religion or belief. Third, no society, including our own, is immune from the scourge of religious discrimination, whether manifesting as anti Semitism, anti muslim hatred, xenophobia or marginalization of christians, atheists or any others. Education and youth focused programs are vital to promote an understanding of the value and importance of pluralism and mutual respect for all. We remain committed to working with government and civil society partners to tackle problems like hate crimes, discrimination and religiously motivated violence in ways that do not interfere with freedom of religion and freedom of expression. And finally, we all must remain vigilant for early warnings of possible mass atrocities around the globe. In a few short years, we have seen genocide perpetrated by ISIS against Yazidis, christians and other ethnic and religious minorities in northern Iraq and Syria. We’ve seen mass atrocities including ethnic cleansing committed by the Burmese military against Rohingya. It is certainly no coincidence that those behind the recent military coup are among the same people who have led the repression of Burma’s ethnic and religious minorities for decades. As one activist recently noted, they have turned those tools on all of us now and today. We also cannot look away from the ongoing crimes against humanity and genocide. The chinese government is perpetrating against muslim leaders and members of other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang. This can be seen as the culmination of decades of repression of religious adherence from Tibetan Buddhists to christians to falun gong practitioners. We persist in this work because of the unfortunate truth that many of the challenges to religious freedom we see in the world today, our structural, systemic and deeply entrenched. They cannot be solved by quick fixes or breezy slogans, but we must not give up these challenges, demand sustained commitment from all of us who are unwilling to accept hatred, intolerance and persecution as the status quo. The United States is committed to using all available tools, both positive and punitive to advance this universal right for the many people who and communities around the world whose stories fill this report. Our message today is clear. We see you, we hear you and we will not rest until you are free to live your lives in dignity and in peace. Thank you very much and I’ll be pleased to take your questions. Hey, so I mean you talk about we’re just freedom of of all, I mean a stark example is what is happening in Alexa mosque, right? I think your response at best tip it thus far has in a way encourage the Israeli uh security forces and so on to keep storming the mosque time and time and time again. Will you call on them not to do that anymore and to allow Palestinian worshippers to go ahead and worship on this, this last day of Ramadan and tomorrow being the heat. Well, thank you very much for your question. And the United States has long supported the status quo agreement around the Haram al Sharif um Temple Mount area. Um the Secretary spoke at length about this issue and uh and so from religious freedom perspective, I think there’s only one thing that is worth me adding um the only way over the long term to ensure respect for religious freedom for all jews, Muslims, christians, behinds, all people um in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza is to achieve a just and lasting peace and you can’t have respect for human rights when there continues to be conflict. That’s always going to be a challenge and always going to be attention. And so we remain committed to working with all of the parties in the region to get there together. Oh yes, at the United Nations today there was a bit of a side event. I don’t know exactly what the terminology is about the situation in Xinjiang china, which uh Secretary Blinken just mentioned. Um we disappointed that there weren’t more majority muslim nations participating in that call. And do you think, you know, how do you think the chinese government would, do you think they’ll get the message? And so how about whether to change their actions or behavior in that region? Well, thank you, thank you very much for the question. And and obviously the situation in Xinjiang just shocks the conscience. And um and and we we do these events um we we arrange um you know, uh these these activities to ensure that people understand the full scope and scale of the atrocities being committed there. Um but it’s not a popularity contest at the end of the day. It’s not about how many countries line up on one side of an issue or the other. Um that’s that’s an effort on the part of the chinese government to, you know, to to try and demonstrate that there are people who who agree with their world view, but the facts speak for themselves. The facts of the situation, not, not not the views of the United States government or what will ultimately carry the day. And what I’m talking about is open source satellite information. Um, that’s that’s been published in many of your publications. What I’m talking about is the testimony of survivors who have escaped from the camps. Um, that again, have been published by many of you. All of that information is out there. It’s available. We’re also talking about documents of the chinese government. The PRC authorities own documents sharing information about how they intend to build these camps, how they intend to manage these populations. All of this is out there for everyone to see. So, at the end of the day, um, it is absolutely clear what horrors are are taking place in Xinjiang being perpetrated by the PRC government. And we will continue to speak out because we must um we will continue to work with partners where we can on issues of sanctions, issues of of of ensuring accountability, um and justice for the victims. Uh, but but at the end of the day, it’s it’s not how many people show up at an event. It’s it’s us getting at that long term um effort to to to stop these terrible actions and put people in a better place. Um do you have a tiny question or should we do okay? We’ll come to you right now. Yeah. Last month, the Independent U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom basically urged the administration to not stand officials to the 2022 Winter olympics in Beijing over the persecution of Wigger Muslims. Now, State Department has its own report and I know that doesn’t talk about olympics but still will you agree to the call for a diplomatic boycott and I just want to squeeze in something about Burma because you mentioned it in your in your remarks, we know that State Department has taken up several processes for an atrocity determination and they fell apart. Um given what’s happening now, is there a fresh effort effort to take this up and look into the events to declare genocide? To make a genocide determination or crimes against humanity? Sure, well, I’ll take your second question on Burma. First, you know, the secretary has committed to a comprehensive review of the atrocities committed against Rohingya in Rakhine state. That process has begun and it is in fact ongoing. The department will continue to work in the meantime to promote peace, security and respect for the human rights of Rohingya as equal citizens of Burma. On your first question about the Beijing olympics, look, we can’t turn a blind eye to Beijing’s aberrant human rights record. Um and it’s not just about Xinjiang, which we’ve spoken about, its Tibet, it’s Hong kong, it’s the whole host of things that happened on the mainland. But and we recognize that when it comes to the olympics, our efforts will be most effective if we act alongside like minded partners. So at at the moment we’re reviewing options on policy and messaging related to the games that will advance us priorities, which includes countering Beijing’s intend to use the games as a platform to somehow validate their governing model and paper over their gross human rights violations. So we’re consulting with Congress allies and partners and other key stakeholders as we proceed please. Number of And yeah, the Commerce Department adding several entities to their entity list. Business Advisory is going out cautioning businesses against forced labour and Xinjiang. Uh numerous officials getting visa restrictions. The Secretary just announced another designation today is the State Department seeing any effect to these actions. What more can the State Department do is the answer? Just more officials getting sanctioned? Well, we’re certainly looking at all available options and continuing to look at individual culpability of particular actors in china so we can apply sanctions to them where where those sanctions are relevant um in terms of overall, you know, changes or shifts and posture. I think what we’ve seen over the last year and a half or so is a dramatic shift um in the government of china’s posture towards towards this, this issue of human rights abuses generally. Um you’ll recall that early on, it was blanket denial when it came to Xinjiang. There’s nothing happening here. Nothing to see. Thanks for asking, sorry. Um and and what that ultimately shifted to was the realization that that what was happening could not be denied. It could not be papered over. It was clear. And so now it’s about justification. It’s about, you know, this is a terrorism issue. Oh, this is a, um, you know, this is a security issue. And uh, and, and of course, the world isn’t buying it. We see quite clearly what it is. What it is is an attempt to erase people, um, history, a culture, um, from the earth, and that’s unacceptable. Um, you know, and so we we continue to work, um, and look at all the tools at our disposal. Um, and, and those punitive tools have come in quite handy here, um, but we’re not going to sit back at a certain point and say, okay, that’s enough of those. When we find perpetrators, when we find those responsible, um, for activities, whether they’ve already been committed or if future activities are committed, we’re going to continue to hold them accountable under the structure that we’ve been given in U. S. Law, religious freedoms. Just, well, the situation remains dire and you know, one of the one of the interesting things that has shifted a bit is at least early on. You saw a dramatic reliance on camps, people being warehoused essentially in camps for reeducation, for forced labor, for other purposes. What what the government is now doing? They’ve basically turned Xinjiang into an open air camp. So people’s movements are closely tracked. You have minders who have been assigned to live with wingers to keep tabs on them. You have people going to the market who have to check in every time they go to a different market stall. So, so what, what the government is created, it’s it’s it’s quite an ambitious effort to essentially turn the entire region into an open air prison. Right. Mhm. First, mhm. Co equal with other human rights. Religious freedom is not more or less important than other rights. This seems to be a departure from the Prior administration. Do you view this? His departure from the Prior administration? If so. Can you tell us what the thinking was? Um and also how much of this report is consistent with what the trump administration Was going to put out? And where are the biggest departures do you feel with biden Trump administration on this report? Yeah. As somebody who’s worked on this report now, over three administrations, I can tell you the structure of the report and the content has has changed virtually not at all since amendments to the Religious Freedom Act were passed back in 2016. So, the report itself documents the state of Religious freedom and Nearly 200 countries and territories. It talks about government practices. Um it talks about laws and policies that are that are relevant to the state of religious freedom. It talks about societal actions impacting religious freedom. And and in the last section, it talks about us government actions to address the challenges that the rest of the report lays out. So nothing has really changed in the Religious Freedom Report from, You know, over the last three administrations, essentially since, since the Wolf Act was passed in 2016, when it comes to the conceptual framework for religious freedom, the the secretary has made clear that religious freedom is a nested human right. It’s a human right that that exists in co dependence with other human rights. You can’t have religious freedom without freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of assembly. You can’t have religious freedom without a system that guarantees the rule of law, because if people have problems, there’s no recourse without without a rule of law system. Um So what what you have there is it’s not a departure certainly from from any any prior concept, um but it’s a clarification because Secretary Pompeo um did express his view that there was perhaps a hierarchy of rights concept. Um and and that’s a view that this administration does depart from, but that in no way is to indicate that religious freedom is any less important. Religious freedom is in our First Amendment. It’s been a part of our of our of our country, our culture, our history from the very, very beginning. And it was in fact, the reason many people came to this country because they were fleeing forms of religious persecution Or discrimination overseas. That was true in the 18th century. It continues to be true in the 21st century. So as a general matter, religious freedom is a fundamental freedom. It is a co equal right and it’s one that we will continue to stand up for. Yes. Yes, The and one in South Asia. What is your general assessment of the situation of religious freedom in India? You report in India does mention that U. S. Officials last year discussed with indians to issues. See A and F. C. R. Uh whatever you asking India to do on those two issues. And finally, your report also mentioned about the religious prosecution against Hindus was hindu stations at six in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. What’s your message to these three countries? Thank you. Sure. Sure thing. Well, well, with respect to India first, we do regularly engage with indian government officials at all levels, encouraging them to uphold human rights obligations and commitments including the protection of minorities um in keeping with India’s long tradition of democratic values and and its history of tolerance. We also meet continuously with civil society organizations, local religious communities to hear their views and understand challenges and opportunities that they see when it comes to our overall encouragements to the government of India. It is to engage these communities these these outside actors indirect discourse. Because when when laws are passed, when initiatives are undertaken um that are done without effective consultation with these communities, um it creates a sense of disempowerment at times of alienation, and the best way to address that is to engage in that direct dialogue between government and civil society, including religious communities. So, so so with respect to India, I think there’s there’s genuine opportunities um there for for the government to address some of the concerns they hear from indian civil society through greater dialogue and engagement when it comes to the other countries. You mentioned, I apologize, you mentioned Bangladesh and sure, so so the the issues of respect for the rights of hindu minorities and you know, in in each of those three instances christian um some sometimes behi other other seek other religious minorities. In all three of those countries are of significant interest to us. Their topics that we raise frequently with governments. Um sometimes, you know, we’re encouraging governments to do the same thing that I mentioned for India engage in direct discourse with these communities, make sure you understand their needs, what opportunities exist to bring them into conversations and empower them as as co equal citizens. Um one of the broad principles that we that we encourage governments to think about is when you have minority populations that don’t have access to the same opportunities, jobs, education that members of the majority community do, you’re actually losing the potential for economic growth. You’re actually losing out on empowering people to be contributing members of your society. And so discrimination has an economic cost as well. And, and so that’s another feature that we we always seek to to incorporate into those conversations. Thank you Any other questions, Okay, We’ll have an opportunity to hear more from and later today, so we appreciate your time, everyone. Thank you very much. Yeah.

Share with Friends:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.