INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW I n 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted daily life in USCIRF’s 2021 Annual Report assesses religious freedom vioevery country across the world. By early January 2021, the World lations and progress during calendar year 2020 in 26 countries and Health Organization (WHO) reported 83 million cases and 1.8 million makes independent recommendations for U.S. policy. The key finddeaths globally since the pandemic’s start, with the numbers conings, recommendations, and analysis in this report are based on a tinuing to climb. The year severely challenged individuals, families, year’s research by USCIRF, including travel, hearings, meetings, and religious and other communities, medical and educational systems, briefings, and are approved by a majority vote of Commissioners, with arts and cultural institutions, workplaces and economies, and goveach Commissioner, under the statute, having the option to include ernments worldwide. a statement with his or her own individual views. During the first two Public health measures to control the virus’ spread restricted months of 2020, Commissioners and/or staff visited Azerbaijan, Laos, in-person gatherings, including religious gatherings. As the U.S. Malaysia, and Sudan to assess religious freedom conditions. For the Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) noted in rest of the year and in early 2021, USCIRF did not travel due to the March, in many cases these measures complied with international coronavirus pandemic. human rights standards protecting freedom of religion or belief, but in The report’s primary focus is on two groups of countries: first, some cases they did not. Such measures must be necessary to protect those that USCIRF recommends the State Department should desthe legitimate state interest of preventing disease and proportionate ignate as “countries of particular concern,” or CPCs, under IRFA, to meeting that aim, must not be discriminatory, and must be lifted and second, those that USCIRF recommends the State Department once the crisis has passed. should place on its Special Watch List (SWL). The report also includes USCIRF’s monitoring revealed that in some countries, already USCIRF’s recommendations of violent nonstate actors for designamarginalized religious minorities faced official and/or societal stigtion by the State Department as “entities of particular concern,” matization, harassment, and or EPCs, under IRFA. In addition, discrimination for allegedly causing the report analyzes the U.S. govor spreading the virus. Additionally, ernment’s implementation of since crowded prisons present a IRFA during the reporting year [I]n some countries, already high risk of infection, USCIRF urged and provides recommendations marginalized religious minorities faced governments to release all prisonto bolster overall U.S. efforts to official and/or societal stigmatization, ers held because of their religion advance freedom of religion or harassment, and discrimination for allegedly or belief as part of their COVIDbelief abroad. It also includes 19 response. On a positive note, a section discussing key trends causing or spreading the virus. some governments that have long and developments in religious repressed religious freedom, such freedom globally during the as Eritrea, did release religious prisreporting period, including in oners. By contrast, Iran, which reportedly furloughed 85,000 prisoners countries that are not recommended for CPC or SWL status. This for health reasons, also incarcerated others, especially members of the year, that section covers COVID-19 and religious freedom, attacks Baha’i community, and placed prisoners from the Sufi Muslim religious on houses of worship, political unrest leading to religious freedom minority in overcrowded wards, increasing their risk of exposure. violations, blasphemy laws, global antisemitism, and China’s international influence on religious freedom and human rights. Finally, About this Report the report’s last section highlights key USCIRF recommendations Created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as that the U.S. government has implemented since USCIRF’s previous amended (IRFA), USCIRF is an independent, bipartisan U.S. governannual report. ment advisory body, separate from the U.S. Department of State, that In this report, USCIRF uses the terms “religious freedom,” “freemonitors and reports on religious freedom abroad and makes policy dom of religion,” and “freedom of religion or belief” interchangeably recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. to refer to the broad right to freedom of thought, conscience, and USCIRF bases these recommendations on the provisions of its authoreligion or belief, including the right to nonbelief, protected under rizing legislation and the standards in the Universal Declaration of international human rights law. Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and other international documents. USCIRF’s mandate and Standards for CPC, SWL, and EPC annual reports are different from, and complementary to, the mandate Recommendations and annual reports of the State Department’s Office of International IRFA defines CPCs as countries where the government engages in Religious Freedom. or tolerates “particularly severe” violations of religious freedom. It USCIRF | ANNUAL REPORT 2021 1