WASHINGTON (ABP) -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom added Nigeria to its list of the world's worst violators of religious freedom in an annual report released May 1.

Citing sectarian violence, attempts to expand Sharia law and complaints by Christians in the north of discrimination at the hands of Muslim-controlled governments, the advisory panel for the first time designated Nigeria a "Country of Particular Concern."

Nigeria joins 12 other nations identified as the world's worst violators. They include Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Uzbekistan -- countries all on a separate list of CPCs managed by the U.S. State Department.

The panel, an independent government commission created by an act of Congress in 1998, urged the State Department to also add Iraq, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam to the list, along with Saudi Arabia, which the State Department lists as a CPC but has indefinitely waived any policy response to violations of religious freedom.

Commission Chairwoman Felice Gaer said in the past the government has sometimes followed the panel's recommendation to add countries to the list, though not immediately, due to disagreement about the seriousness of the violations or for reasons of diplomacy.

The commission has recommended that the Secretary of State designate Turkmenistan as a CPC every year since 2000, for example, but the government has never done so.

Sometimes members of the bipartisan panel disagree among themselves. In December the commission declared Iraq a Country of Particular Concern. Four of the 10 commissioners, including Richard Land, head of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, dissented from the recommendation, saying Iraq should instead remain on a "Watch List" of nations that require attention but do not meet thresholds of a CPC.

Commissioner Nina Shea said about half of Iraq's 1.4 million Christians have been killed or left the country, jeopardizing Iraq's future as a diverse and free country.

This year's report adds Russia, Somalia and Venezuela to the Watch List. They join Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Laos, Tajikistan and Turkey. Laos rejoined the Watch List after being removed in 2005. This year the commission dropped Bangladesh from the Watch List, citing improved conditions, but will continue to monitor the situation there.

Commissioners said religious freedom in Venezuela has deteriorated since Hugo Chavez became president in 1998. Somalia was added because religious freedom protection is increasingly circumvented by warlords, local authorities and prevailing social attitudes. Russia came under scrutiny largely due to establishment of a new body in the Ministry of Justice with unprecedented power to control religious groups.

Commissioner Michael Cromartie described North Korea as the "worst violator of religious freedom of any country in the world."

Chairwoman Gaer said it was "not a good year for religious freedom" in China, citing crackdowns on protestors during the Summer Olympics in Beijing and conditions in Tibet she said are "now worse than any time since the commission was formed." She also said more unregistered Protestants were arrested in China than the year before.

The commission said it is also monitoring religious liberty concerns in Kazakhstan, where laws against "extremism" have been used to target minority sects, and Sri Lanka, based on attacks targeting members of religious minorities and proposed laws against religious conversion.

The commission delayed its report on India, pending a first-time visit there scheduled in June. The commission had hoped to send a delegation to Cuba in April, a country on its Watch List, but Cuban officials denied visas.

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This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  is senior writer for Associated Baptist Press.

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