Country of Particular Concern – UPSC Prelims

Religiously Discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act

Seeming police complicity in the Delhi riots

During COVID-19 pandemic, disinformation and hateful rhetoric including from government officials targeted religious minorities.

Efforts to prohibit interfaith marriage – such as those in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh among other reasons.

The US administration should impose targeted sanctions on Indian individuals and entities for ‘severe violations of religious freedom’.

The US administration should promote interfaith dialogue and the rights of all communities at forums such as the Quad.

USCIRF recommends the Country of Particular Concern(CPC) designation to the US State Department.

 It recommends countries engaged in severe violations of religious freedom under IRFA (International Religious Freedom Act) 1998.

The IRFA 1998 promotes religious freedom as a foreign policy of the United States.

Why is the country given the CPC designation? The countries that receive this designation either engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing, glaring violations of religious freedom.

In addition to its CPC recommendations, the USCIRF established a Special Watch List countries. The list includes countries which does not fit in the CPC criterion, but still engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom.