Country of Particular Concern
Encyclopedia
Country of Particular Concern is a designation by the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Secretary of State
United States Secretary of State
The United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence...

 (under authority delegated by the President) of a nation guilty of particularly severe violations of religious freedom under the International Religious Freedom Act
International Religious Freedom Act of 1998
The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 was passed to promote religious freedom as a foreign policy of the United States, and to advocate on the behalf of the individuals viewed as persecuted in foreign countries on the account of religion...

 (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
    Torture
    Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...

     or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment;
  • b) Prolonged detention without charges;
  • c) Causing the disappearance
    Forced disappearance
    In international human rights law, a forced disappearance occurs when a person is secretly abducted or imprisoned by a state or political organization or by a third party with the authorization, support, or acquiescence of a state or political organization, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the...

     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. Nations so designated are subject to further actions, including economic sanctions
    Economic sanctions
    Economic sanctions are domestic penalties applied by one country on another for a variety of reasons. Economic sanctions include, but are not limited to, tariffs, trade barriers, import duties, and import or export quotas...

    , by the United States.


Issuing recommendations as to countries it believes should be designated as countries of particular concern for their religious liberty violations is the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission created by the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate...

, an agency created by IRFA to monitor the state of religious freedom around the world and provide policy recommendations to the president, the secretary of state and US Congress. Its recommendations are not always followed by the Secretary of State.

The following countries are designated as CPCs in 2009:

External links

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