The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) highlights the fast-rising worldwide persecution of Christians in a new report.
"For a very small budget, every year the United States government drops this bomb in the human rights community that reverberates on every corner of the globe," Johnnie Moore, a commissioner for USCIRF, told CBN News.
The following facts, from the 2021 USCIRF report released on Wednesday, indicate that Christians are facing increased persecution in various countries:
- 50,000 Christians held in North Korean prison camps
- Some 3,000 Yazidi girls and women missing in Iraq
- 130,000 Muslims in internment camps in Burma
- As many as 3 million Uighur Muslims in Chinese concentration camps
Moore went on to say that 22 years ago, they have raised concern in their first report about the inhumane treatment of the Chinese Communist Party toward the Uyghur community. It only received minimal international attention and was quickly forgotten.
To date, several other reports detail more abuses by the communist regime including rape, torture, and organ harvesting.
USCIRF Commissioner Nury Turkel, a Uighur Muslim who was one of the victims of CCP's persecution, said that the regime is "even promoting and marketing the Uighur organs to Muslim majority countries."
"They find two religions: Islam and Christianity particularly problematic for the survival and existence of the communist party," Turkel also noted during a press conference.
The report also identified "countries of particular concern" or CPC where human abuses were the most severe.
In addition to Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan which were already tagged by the State Department, the USCIRF also named India, Russia, Syria, and Vietnam.
On the Special Watch List (SWL), the report listed Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nicaragua, Turkey, Uzbekistan.
"We're not letting them sleep one night without screaming at the top of our lungs in a bipartisan way Republican and Democrat to make sure they can do what they chose to do but they're not going to do it in the shadows," said Moore.
He continued that the pandemic compounded the burden because many religious minorities were accused of causing the spread of the virus.
Also an evangelical Christian, Moore said that "it's time for Christians to do what the Apostle Paul called them to do which is to pray for those who are in prison as if they were there with them."
Moore is one of the nine bipartisan commissioners for USCIRF. CBN reports that the commissioners are working to encourage the Biden administration to "fill a number of vacant positions dedicated to putting pressure on the countries that persecute their people."
In another news segment, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council was asked about the commissioners' unanimous condemning of China.
"Certainly, China is on top of the list...The big concern that we have about China is the exportation of their repressive techniques and even their technology that they use to do that, "he said.
Perkins also noted that many big corporations are working in concert with China.
"Some of these American companies are benefiting from that force labor while at the same time preaching social justice here in the United States. The hypocrisy (is) pretty strong."
