KEY USCIRF RECOMMENDATIONS IMPLEMENTED IN 2020 AND EARLY 2021 T he International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, as amended (IRFA) mandates USCIRF to make independent policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. The recommendations are based on USCIRF’s research on religious freedom conditions abroad and assessment of U.S. policy. In addition to making recommendations, USCIRF’s mandate was recently amended to include tracking the U.S. government’s implementation of USCIRF’s recommendations. While notable U.S. government actions pursuant to USCIRF recommendations are detailed throughout this report, this section highlights the key USCIRF recommendations implemented during 2020 and early 2021, including several longstanding recommendations. The list is not exhaustive, but instead is meant to showcase particularly impactful U.S. government actions that implemented USCIRF’s recommendations. Unless otherwise noted, the recommendations highlighted here were included in USCIRF’s 2020 Annual Report. Designating the Worst Violators • In December 2020, the U.S. Department of State designated 10 countries as “countries of particular concern” (CPCs) under IRFA, all of which USCIRF recommended for such designation. The State Department designated Nigeria as a CPC for the first time, an action USCIRF had recommended every year since 2009. • In December, the State Department also placed four countries on its Special Watch List (SWL) under IRFA, two of which—Cuba and Nicaragua—were recommended by USCIRF for such placement. While USCIRF recommended that Russia be designated as a CPC, its placement on the State Department’s SWL is a recognition of the severity of the religious freedom violations occurring there. • The State Department also designated in December five entities as “entities of particular concern” (EPCs) pursuant to USCIRF’s recommendations, including for the first time Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an entity that USCIRF had recommended be designated as an EPC since 2019. Increasing the Use of Targeted Sanctions • USCIRF has repeatedly called on the U.S. government to increase the use of human rights related financial and visa authorities to impose asset freezes and/or visa bans on individuals and entities for severe religious freedom violations, citing specific abuses. Notably, a higher percent of the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act (Global Magnitsky) sanctions issued in 2020 were in response to religious freedom abuses than in previous years. Global Magnitsky sanctions were issued against Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Chen Quanguo and former Political and Legal Affairs Commission chief Zhu Hailun, both of whom were explicitly named in USCIRF’s 2020 Annual Report. USCIRF also called for the use of targeted sanctions against perpetrators of religious freedom violations in Russia and Iran; this report’s IRFA Implementation section details the implementation of these sanctions. • USCIRF continues to advocate for the increased use of targeted sanctions as a tool to deter religious freedom violations. In January 2021, after the reporting period, the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed Global Magnitsky sanctions on Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) Chairman and Iraq’s former national security advisor Falih al-Fayyadh for engaging in egregious human rights abuses. • USCIRF recommended that the U.S. government urge U.S. allies to condemn publicly China’s treatment of religious minorities in conjunction with a multilateral effort to coordinate targeted sanctions against Chinese leaders. Pursuant to this recommendation, in March 2021, the U.S. government imposed Global Magnitsky sanctions on two Chinese officials for their involvement in atrocities committed against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang. These sanctions were issued in conjunction with the United Kingdom, Canada, and the European Union, which concurrently sanctioned abusers to ensure global accountability for these violations. 2020 State Department Designations Pursuant to USCIRF Recommendations CPC Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan SWL Cuba, Nicaragua EPC al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, the Taliban, HTS USCIRF | ANNUAL REPORT 2021 91