Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty - India Denies Entry to US Religious Commission

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India Denies Entry to US Religious Commission

Written by Don Byrd

Thursday, 18 June 2009

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom planned a visit to India to inquire about increases in violence, but was rebuffed when the delegation was denied visas. AFP reports jujst how rare an occurrence that is.

India joins only Cuba in refusing a visit by the US commission, which has been allowed to visit even nations whose records it frequently criticizes such as China and Saudi Arabia.

Yesterday, the Commission released a statement.

The aim of the long-requested trip was to discuss religious freedom conditions in India, home to a multitude of religious communities that have historically co-existed. India has experienced an increase in communal violence against religious communities in recent years and the USCIRF Commissioners sought to discuss the Indian government’s responses to this, and its development of preventive strategies at the local and national levels.

For more on the religion-based violence at the heart of the planned trip, see this UN News story from a year ago.

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