* Violations of religious freedom are rising, report says
* Report is particularly scathing about China and Myanmar
* China and Myanmar have denied allegations of genocide
By Philip Pullella
ROME, April 20 (Reuters) - Violations of religious freedom
are increasing and persecution takes place in more than 25
countries, with China and Myanmar among those that have the
worst records, according to a report by a Vatican-backed
charity.
The Religious Freedom in the World Report, covering
2019-2020 and issued on Tuesday, said that in some countries,
such as Niger, Turkey and Pakistan, prejudices against religious
minorities led local residents to blame them for the COVID-19
pandemic and denial of access to medical aid.
The 800-page report was prepared by Aid to the Church in
Need International (ACN), a worldwide Catholic charity that
studies violations of freedoms of all religions.
The latest report put 26 countries in a "red" category
denoting the existence of persecution, compared to 21 countries
at the time of the last report two years ago.
It put 36 countries in the "orange" category denoting
discrimination, compared to 17 two years ago.
The report describes discrimination as when laws or rules
apply to a particular group and not to all, and persecution as
when there is an active programme to subjugate people based on
religion.
"There has been a significant increase in the severity of
religiously-motivated persecution and oppression," the report
said.
It was particularly scathing about China and Myanmar.
"The apparatus of repression constructed by the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) in recent years is ... fine-tuned,
pervasive, and technologically sophisticated," the report said.
The most egregious violations were against Muslim Uighurs in
Xinjiang "where the atrocities have reached such a scale that a
growing number of experts describe them as genocide", it said.
HARASSMENT AND ARREST"
In February, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden
endorsed a last-minute determination by the Trump administration
that China has committed genocide in Xinjiang and has said the
United States must be prepared to impose costs on China.
China says the complexes it set up in Xinjiang provide
vocational training to help stamp out Islamist extremism and
separatism. The Chinese foreign ministry has called allegations
of forced labour and human rights violations "groundless rumour
and slander".
The ACN report said Catholic hierarchy in China "continue to
suffer harassment and arrest" despite a landmark deal signed in
2018 between Bejing and the Vatican on the appointment of
bishops on the mainland.
Reuters reported last year that two nuns who work at the
Vatican mission in Hong Kong were arrested when they went home
to the mainland for a visit.
China was increasing the use of facial recognition on
worshippers of various religions, it said.
In Myanmar, the report said Rohingya Muslims "have been the
victims of the most egregious violations of human rights in
recent memory".
Last year, the International Court of Justice ordered
Myanmar to take urgent measures to protect Rohingya from
genocide. The government has denied accusations of genocide.
The ACN report said the military coup on Feb. 1 was "likely
to make things worse for all religious minorities" in Myanmar,
where about 8% of the population is Christian.
Africa would be "the next battleground against Islamic
militants," the report said.
Militant groups were causing havoc in countries including
Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, northern
Cameroon, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of
the Congo, Somalia and Mozambique, it said.