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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announcing the release of the 2007 International Religious Freedom Report.
2007 International Religious Freedom Report Released
Washington, D.C.
September 14, 2007
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice released the U.S. State Department's 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom at a press conference in Washington, D.C. This report is submitted to the Congress by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. The law provides that the Secretary of State, with the assistance of the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, shall transmit to Congress "an Annual Report on International Religious Freedom supplementing the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom."
In her remarks, Secretary Rice said, "With this year's Report on International Religious Freedom, the State Department is helping to advance President Bush's vision of a world that is growing in freedom and peace. Through our bilateral relationships, our work in international forums, and our many ongoing discussions on this issue with people across the globe, the United States will continue working to promote religious freedom, to nurture tolerance and to build a more peaceful world for people of all faiths."
The purpose of this report on religious freedom is to document the actions of governments—those that repress religious expression, persecute innocent believers, or tolerate violence against religious minorities, as well as those that respect, protect, and promote religious freedom. The State Department strives to report with fairness and accuracy on abuses against adherents of all religious traditions and beliefs. The governments reported on range from those that provided a high level of protection for religious freedom in the broadest sense (those that "generally respected" religious freedom) to totalitarian regimes that sought to control religious thought and expression and regarded some or all religious groups as threats.
The report will be used by a wide range of U.S. government departments, agencies, and offices to shape policy; conduct diplomacy; inform assistance, training, and other resource allocations; and help determine which countries have engaged in or tolerated "particularly severe violations" of religious freedom, otherwise known as Countries of Particular Concern.
