The United States has put Azerbaijan and three other countries on a watch list for engaging in or tolerating “severe violations of religious freedom” after Baku took over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on January 4 that Azerbaijan joins the list along with the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam.
SEE ALSO: 'Forgeries': The Armenian Art That Azerbaijan May 'Erase' From ChurchesThe designation comes after the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) pointed to concerns about the preservation of Christian religious sites in Nagorno-Karabakh. The takeover by Azerbaijan in September prompted virtually the entire population of 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
The commission also voiced alarm over regulations on religious practice in the Muslim-majority country under President Ilham Aliyev, including a requirement that all religious groups be registered and their literature approved by an official body.
Blinken said in addition to the State Department's “special watch list,” there are 12 “countries of particular concern” -- Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. There was no change in this list from the year before.
In a separate statement on January 4, the USCIRF, which makes recommendations but does not set U.S. policy, complained about a setback to religious freedom in Belarus.
It said a law signed on January 3 by authoritarian leader Alyaksandr Lukashenka tightening the activities of religious organizations retains the most regressive provisions of the country’s 2002 religion law and imposes more undue restrictions on religious communities.
The legislation requires compliance within a year and sets guidelines for religious organizations' activities to help those with addictions and provide social services for the elderly and disabled.
“Instead of repealing its highly restrictive religion law enacted over two decades ago, which did not meet international human rights standards, Belarusian officials have doubled down and implemented a more repressive religion law that grants the government unbridled control over religious communities and their affairs,” said USCIRF Chairman Abraham Cooper.
The final text has not been published, but the draft version bars people deemed to have participated in extremist activities from leading religious groups.
Cooper said the restrictions mean religious communities “will face the daunting choice of practicing their religion or belief ‘illegally’ or submitting to a brutal regime that uses indiscriminate force and intimidation against its own people.”
Blinken said advancing the freedom of religion “has been a core objective of U.S. foreign policy ever since Congress passed and enacted the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998.”
He said governments must end abuses such as attacks on members of religious minority communities and their places of worship. He also called for an end to lengthy imprisonment for peaceful expression and calls to violence against religious communities.