John Kerry: Religion gives no one the right to coerce

US Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that those who practise a religious faith must “understand that they have no right to coerce others into submission, conversion, or silence, or to literally take their lives because of their beliefs”.

In the Washington news briefing announcing the State Department’s release of the 2014 annual report of the US Commission of International Religious Freedom, Mr Kerry said violators of religious freedoms have been both governments and terrorist organisations.

In the Middle East, Sub-Saharan Africa and throughout Asia, terrorist groups “have set their sights on destroying religious diversity”, the report says.

Groups including Daesh (Islamic State), al-Qaida, al-Shabaab and Boko Haram have given captives the choice between conversion, slavery or death, the report says.

Children, who have often been among the victims, have been forced to witness or participate in executions even of their own family members. Entire populations of religious minority groups have been targeted for killings and young girls have been forced into slavery.

Another trend highlighted in the report is the impact of blasphemy and apostasy laws particularly in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Sudan.

In chapters fiercely disputed by Russia, the report, covering 197 countries worldwide, said religious minorities, including Ukrainian Catholics, Muslims and breakaway Orthodox Christians, had been “persecuted” in Russian-occupied Crimea, while Catholics, Protestants and Jews had been attacked in parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russia-backed separatists.

“This text is full of flaws,” said Konstantin Dolgov, commissioner for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in the Russian Foreign Ministry. “In line with a sad tradition, its judgements about the situation in Russia, particularly Cri mea, are politicised, biased and far-fetched.”

He said the report’s section on Syria lacked any analysis “of the root causes of rampant terrorism and systemic bloody attacks” on Christians and other religious groups. Russia’s government-backed Association for the Protection of Religious Freedom, said the report had committed a “blatant defamation” by placing Russia “on a par with countries such as Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia”.

“These reports always reflect the political objectives and priorities of the United States,” the association said.