USCIRF  

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent bi-partisan  

commission, has recommended for the second year in a row that the State Department put  

India on a list (‘Countries of Particular Concern’ or CPCs) for the worst violations of  

religious freedoms in 2020.  

Findings of the report -

• The USCISRF recommended that the administration impose targeted sanctions on Indian  

individuals and entities for “severe violations of religious freedom”.

• A second recommendation was for the administration to promote inter-faith dialogue and  

the rights of all communities at bilateral and multilateral forums “such as the ministerial of  

the Quadrilateral [the Quad]”.

• Another recommendation — to the U.S. Congress — was to raise issues in the U.S.-India  

bilateral space, such as by hosting hearings, writing letters and constituting Congressional  

delegations.

• The USCIRF recommendations are non-binding and the Trump administration had rejected  

the USCIRF recommendation to designate India a CPC last year, when it released its own  

determinations in December.

What were the particular concerns?  

• The key concerns of the 2021 report include the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. The report  

says, “Mobs sympathetic to Hindu nationalism operated with impunity,” and used “brutal force”  

to attack Muslims in Delhi’s riots in February 2020.

• On the National Register of Citizens (NRC), the report says, “The consequences of exclusion —  

as exemplified by a large detention camp being built in Assam — are potentially  

devastating…” Efforts to prohibit interfaith marriage — such as those in Uttar Pradesh and  

Madhya Pradesh — are also highlighted as a concern. “These efforts targeting and  

delegitimising interfaith relationships have led to attacks and arrests of non-Hindus and to  

innuendo, suspicion, and violence toward any interfaith interaction,” the report notes.

• In an apparent reference to the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz in March 2020, the USCIRF says, “At  

the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, disinformation and hateful rhetoric — including from  

government officials — often targeted religious minorities, continuing familiar patterns.”

About USCIRF -

• It is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission created by the

International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), 1998. It monitors the universal right to freedom of  

religion or belief abroad.

• USCIRF uses international standards to monitor religious freedom violations globally, and  

makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress.

• USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and Congressional leaders of both  

political parties. Their work is supported by a professional, nonpartisan staff.

• USCIRF is separate from the State Department, although the Department!s Ambassador-at-

Large for International Religious Freedom is a non-voting ex officio Commissioner.

• Its recommendations are not binding and acts only as a conscience-keeper for the two  

branches in the US government — the legislature and the executive.

• It releases International Religious Freedom report annually.

World Press Freedom Index  

The World Press Freedom Index, 2021, produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a  

French non-governmental organisation, has again ranked India at 142nd out of 180