THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION HAS ONCE AGAIN BETRAYED NIGERIA.

By David Curry, Op-Ed Contributor Saturday, February 17, 2024

Nigerians have once again been duped by the Biden administration. In what has become a sad annual custom, Biden's State Department recently rejected a request from a number of human rights organizations, religious freedom organizations, and prominent Christian organizations to return Nigeria to "country of Special Concern" (CPC) status.

One of the important tools that the US government uses to support religious freedom around the world is the CPC list. This list can include any country that engages in or permits "particularly grave violations" of religious freedom. With this designation, the United States government can apply sanctions against violating countries.

Countries such as North Korea, Cuba, China, and Iran are included in the State Department'S CPC list. There is no danger in calling them. However, the Biden administration continues to refuse to include Nigeria and a number of other countries for economic and geopolitical reasons. This not only politicizes the CPC list and makes it irrelevant, but also shows that the government does not really support religious freedom globally.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bi-partisan body commissioned by the Congress in which I served, was specifically set up to oversee religious freedom rights abroad, providing recommendations on which countries and malicious parties should be included on the CPC list.and provide policy advice to Congress, the Secretary of State, and the President. The USCIRF's recommendations and concerns were repeatedly ignored by the State Department, which led it to fail to recognize its important role.

I do not know who governs CPC if Nigeria does not. More than 5,000 Nigerian Christians were killed in various attacks in 2022 alone, and another 1,041 were murdered in the first 100 days of 2023. Last Christmas, attacks on 26 villages in Nigeria killed nearly 200 people and disappeared many more. The State Department decided to leave Nigeria off the CPC list just days after this horrific attack.

I recently went to Nigeria to meet with Christians who have lost everything to terrorist attacks such as Boko Haram and Fulani extremists. Their homes and villages were destroyed, their farms killed, and their livestock stolen. These survivors experience trauma and excruciating pain. We let this violence continue month after month, year after year.

Uncontrolled religious violence also exists outside Nigeria. Many states in India have anti-conversion laws, and religiously motivated mob violence is common. Since May 2023, more than 60,000 people have been displaced due to attacks on hundreds of homes and churches of thousands of Christians in Manipur State. The fact that India is the largest trading partner of the US and has a huge economy may explain why the government has ignored repeated requests to register it as a CPC.

For years, the USCIRF had recommended Vietnam be included in the CPC list, but the State Department refused to do so. Many priests are imprisoned there, and hundreds more continue to face the threat of arrest. They should have been eligible for registration because of persecution of other religious minorities, egregious anti-religious laws, and regular house church closures.

However, this evidence of religious targeting and harassment was deliberately ignored by the State Department.

I support congressional hearings on this issue because it will help me understand why the U.S. government is not opposed to this genocide. In addition, I plan to ask the freedom of Information Act to find out how this decision was made. We have to disclose the reason the State Department determines which countries are included in the CPC list and why countries that should be included continue to be missed.

The United States has never taken advantage of all the political and economic tools available to discipline these bad actors, even after the countries were added to the list. Most importantly, the CPC is an embarrassing tool, with implied threats of sanctions that never happen. However, things are getting worse now, and the list is not paid attention to at all. What should be the accountability system is influenced by the global economy and geopolitics.

Since the State Department is not responsible for the enforcement of religious freedom, the CPC issue is only the tip of the iceberg. During a meeting last summer at the White House, the Biden administration instead rolled out the red carpet for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after they failed to talk to him. Biden failed to leverage the relationship to improve human and religious rights in the Middle East, despite his falling out with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Friends should not involve others in religious persecution. We have to ask our friends who are supposed to be responsible.

We know that democratic values and human rights are rooted in religious freedom. The Biden administration's failure to include countries with a history of violations on the CPC list poses a significant threat to the effectiveness of this tool if used correctly.

To restore its credibility while maintaining religious freedom, the State Department must review its standards and ensure that the CPC list accurately reflects the dire reality of religious minorities around the world, regardless of whether they live in a country we oppose or an ally.

The United States must reiterate its commitment to religious freedom at the global level. Otherwise, the cries of the oppressed and the Dead will continue to be heard throughout the world.

Dr. David Curry is the president and CEO of America's leading watchdog organization Global Christian Relief (GCR), which focuses on the suffering of Persecuted Christians around the world. GCR works in the hardest-hit countries to protect and encourage Christians threatened by religious discrimination and violence, in addition to equipping the Western Church to advocate for and pray for those persecuted.

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