United States Commission for International Religious Freedoms of US Congress (USCIRF) presented to the US leadership and the international community a traditional yearly report on the freedom of religious belief in the world

25.05.2005.

According to the US experts, this year Belarus got onto the so-called Watch List.
The document focuses on the countries that de jure provides for the freedom of religion and for separation of the church and the state, but which, de facto, recognize these rights only partially, because the authorities view certain religious groups as a threat to the official denominations.
This, as follows from the new report by the special US Congress Commission, now concerns the freedom of belief in Belarus.
The Commission for International Religious Freedoms of US Congress was created in 1998. It is composed of independent experts who every year study the situation with the freedom of conscience, belief and religion in different parts of the world and present their conclusions to the president, the State Department and US Congress.
According to the document prepared by the commission, Belarus together with Cuba, Egypt and Nigeria are on the so-called Watch List, or a list of countries requiring close attention, because they do not do enough to provide for the right of religious belief. The commission does not rule it out that the Belarusian authorities will continue to apply a policy of deliberate bureaucratic and legal restrictions against representatives of different unofficial religious groups and congregations, reports Radio Liberty.

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