The State Department’s newest survey of spiritual freedom world wide reveals that situations in a number of the most oppressive nations world wide are rising much more dire in addition to new, troubling traits, Secretary of State Antony Blinken mentioned on Monday.

“Governments in many parts of the world continue to target religious minorities using a host of methods, including torture, beatings, unlawful surveillance, and so-called re-education camps,” he mentioned.

Blinken underscored abuses towards the predominately Muslim Uyghur minority group within the Xinjiang province of China, a rustic one senior State Department official described as “one of the worst abusers of human rights and religious freedom in the world.”

The U.S. has beforehand decided that Beijing’s therapy of the Uyghurs quantities to genocide and crimes towards humanity, and the report, which covers the yr 2022, mentioned that persecution has continued steadily.

Although knowledge is proscribed, the survey additionally famous that the Chinese Communist Party has considerably and broadly cracked down on non secular freedom over the course of the yr, and that the variety of folks imprisoned for his or her religious beliefs was estimated to vary between the low 1000’s to maybe over 10,000.

Chinese authorities officers have denied all allegations of human rights abuses and tried to justify actions towards Uyghurs as counterterrorism measures.

Blinken additionally addresses Iran’s Islamic theocracy, which imposes draconian restrictions on its inhabitants and brutal punishments for offenses, in addition to the continued wave of demonstrations impressed by the dying of a teen final September.

“People across Iran, led by young women, continue peaceful protests demanding their human rights, including freedom of religion, galvanized by the killing of Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by the so-called morality police because her hijab did not fully cover her hair,” he mentioned.

The report emphasizes that the motion has include steep prices. Referencing statistics from human rights teams working in Iran, it says that within the months of 2022 after Amini’s dying, authorities safety forces killed 512 protestors, together with 69 kids, arrested 19,204 people and executed at the least one particular person linked to the demonstrations on the cost of “enmity against God.”

The survey, which is required by regulation to be compiled and submitted to Congress yearly, additionally expressed plenty of issues about situations in India—a rustic not at present designated by the State Department as a “Country of Particular Concern” for extreme violations of spiritual freedom. Among the problems listed are authorized prohibitions towards conversions in a number of states, accusations of systemic discrimination towards Muslims, and assaults on non secular minorities–including “cow vigilantism” towards non-Hindus based mostly on allegations of cow slaughter or commerce in beef.

“We’re continuing to encourage the government to condemn violence and hold accountable and protect all groups who engage in rhetoric that’s dehumanizing towards religious minorities and all groups who engage in violence against religious communities and other communities in India,” a senior State Department official suggested reporters.

Additionally, the report outlined widespread violations towards non secular freedom perpetrated by Moscow, each in Russia and in occupied areas of Ukraine.

“Authorities continued to investigate, detain, imprison, torture, physically abuse persons, and seize their property because of their religious belief or affiliation or membership in groups designated “extremist,” “terrorist,” or “undesirable,” including Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, Hizb ut-Tahrir, Tablighi Jamaat, followers of Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi, the Church of Scientology, Falun Gong, and multiple evangelical Protestant groups,” the report says, including that people have been reportedly subjected to lengthy phrases in labor camps, torture, dwelling searches, and different mistreatment.

The report additionally mentioned that even members of the Russian Orthodox Church weren’t utterly protected, noting some have been “fined or banned from continuing in their religious duties” after criticizing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In Crimea and different areas of Ukraine beneath Russian rule, the report mentioned there was considerable proof that authorities “have committed widespread, ongoing, and egregious violations of the right to freedom of religion and conscience as well as physical and psychological abuse of

But Blinken also said across the globe, the report captured examples of progress, citing Belgium formally recognizing its Buddhist minority, lawmakers in Brazil codifying religious freedom guarantees for Afro-Brazilian indigenous communities, and various countries launching offices to combat islamophobia and antisemitism.

“More broadly, civil society and different involved governments world wide have efficiently secured the discharge of many who’ve been detained, even in jail for exercising their freedom of faith or perception,” he mentioned.