Russia is attacking a global pro-religious freedom coalition in an attempt to “deflect accountability” from Moscow’s disregard for what alliance members dub a human right, says Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s team.
“The Russian government’s criticism of the International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance (IRFBA) is an attempt to divert attention and deflect accountability from the dire religious freedom issues in the country,” a State Department official said. “Religious minority groups, especially Jehovah’s Witnesses, are continually subjected to physical abuse, harassment, and imprisonment on account of their beliefs.”
That rebuke continues one of two controversies that have unfolded in parallel this week, as Blinken countered Russian and Chinese criticisms of U.S. support for religious liberty. Russia suspects the U.S. and its allies will impose sanctions to punish what Washington and others call Moscow’s repressive policies, while China unveiled sanctions on a religious liberty activist in retaliation for the blacklisting of a Chinese official involved in the crackdown on the Falun Gong.
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“Beijing’s attempts to intimidate and silence those speaking out for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of religion or belief, only draw additional international attention and scrutiny to its egregious abuses,” Blinken said Thursday. “This includes the ongoing crimes against humanity and genocide in Xinjiang, as well as its repression of religious and spiritual adherents, including Tibetan Buddhists, Christians, and Falun Gong practitioners.”
The Falun Gong have faced repression for more than two decades, culminating in recent investigations that suggest Chinese officials have been murdering Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghur Muslims in order to steal their organs. “The only remaining plausible explanation for a substantial portion of the organ sourcing since 2000 is prisoners of conscience,” according to a report last year from the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
Chinese officials sanctioned a former member of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom this week in response to Blinken’s imposition of sanctions on a Chinese official.
“The United States will continue to speak out for human rights, including those enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and promote accountability for the PRC government’s abuses,” Blinken replied.
The dispute with Russia has been conducted at a lower profile, as a Russian ambassador aired his misgivings about the religious freedom alliance in testimony to Russian lawmakers, independent of any immediate sanctions fight.
“The religious factor is increasingly becoming a serious foreign policy weapon,” Russian ambassador-at-large Gennady Askaldovich told the upper house of the Russian Legislature this week. “This structure is absolutely unacceptable for us as it is an openly U.S.-controlled interstate mechanism potentially capable of using sanctions against countries they don’t like.”
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Moscow’s problem with the initiative is more fundamental, according to the State Department.
“Russia continues to trend in the wrong direction on religious freedom, a freedom enshrined in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights,” the State Department official said. “Since the launch of IRFBA in February 2020, the United States has joined like-minded partners in challenging those undermining religious freedom, including governments and non-state actors attempting to politicize and oppress religious communities. These efforts complement existing work on religious freedom within the United Nations and other competent multilateral and regional organizations.”
