Press release issued by the United States Department of State says Tajikistan is still listed among Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) in terms of violation of religious freedom.
The protection of religious freedom is a top of the U.S. Administration foreign policy priority and the United States continues to work diligently to promote religious freedom and combat abuses.
On December 18, 2019, the U.S. Department of State re-designated Tajikistan alongside Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkmenistan as Country of Particular Concern under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 for having engaged in or tolerated “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom.”
The Department of State renewed the placement of Russia and Uzbekistan on a Special Watch List (SWL) for governments that have engaged in or tolerated “severe violations of religious freedom.”
Finally, the U.S. Department of State designated al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al-Qaeda, al-Shabab, Boko Haram, the Houthis, ISIS, ISIS-Khorasan, and the Taliban as Entities of Particular Concern.
These designations underscore the United States’ commitment to protect those who seek to exercise their freedom of religion or belief.
Country of Particular Concern (CPC) is a designation by the United States Secretary of State (under authority delegated by the President) of a nation guilty of particularly severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 (H.R. 2431) and its amendment of 1999 (Public Law 106-55). The term "particularly severe violations of religious freedom" means systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom, including violations such as: a) torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; b) prolonged detention without charges; c) causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons; or d) other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons.
