The U.S. Department of State has presented its annual International Religious Freedom Report: more than one billion people across the world live in countries where their rights are repressed.
“To think, believe, or doubt. To speak or pray; to gather or stand apart”: these are the verbs of faith listed in the U.S. Department of State’s International Religious Freedom Report for 2011, published yesterday. Today, more than ever, gestures and actions such as this can put those who practice them at risk." 
“More than a billion people live in countries that systematically suppress freedom of religion,” said the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, as she presented the Report for 2011. The world is “sliding backward” in terms of religious freedom, she added.
The main “usual suspects” responsible for religious repression are: China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Burma and Uzbekistan. These have been designated as “Countries of Particular Concern”.
Almost all religious groups are at risk in one part of the world or another: The Baha'is and Sufis in Iran, Christians in Egypt, the Ahmadis (a Sunni Islamic movement) in Pakistan and Indonesia, Christians, Muslims and Buddhists in China and Muslims in numerous European countries.
The Report highlights the worrying increase in intolerance and mistrust shown towards the Jewish and Muslim communities in Europe.
In its report, the U.S. Department of State also documents “a rising number of European countries, including Belgium and France, whose laws restricting dress adversely affected Muslims and others,” the so-called “anti-burka laws”.
Europe’s demographic evolution what with increased immigration and the ageing of its “native” population, gives rise to forms of “xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim sentiment, and intolerance toward people considered "the other."” The report also documents “a global increase in anti-Semitism, manifested in Holocaust denial… and growing nationalistic movements.”
In some cases, as in Egypt, the changes resulting from the Arab Spring have made life very difficult for minorities, particularly Christians and despite the transitional government’s moves to promote greater integration, the violence against Copts continues.
Similarly, in Nigeria, efforts to stop Boko Haram’s anti-Christian attacks have proved inadequate.
Methodologically, the report does not only consider episodes of “repression and violence” but also analyses the legal status of minorities and their actual ability to practice their religion. In this sense, the report points the finger at the blasphemy laws in Indonesia and Pakistan, which are often used to repress religious minorities.
Of the countries included in the U.S. Department of State’s “blacklist” , China - which will publish a similar report in about a year’s time - was the one which reacted most fiercely.
Official news agency Xinhua stated that the report published by the U.S. Department of State was “unimaginative” and “counterproductive” as it was “largely based on unconfirmed media reports and groundless allegations from outlawed groups and organizations with ulterior motives.”
The report “is nothing but a political tool used by the U.S. government to exert pressure on other countries, mostly deemed as its rivals.”