Coordinated sanctions target China amid ongoing religious freedom violations
International Christain Concern (ICC) reports that after months of strong rhetoric on human rights violations in China, the Biden administration announced a series of sanctions on senior Chinese officials responsible for serious violations of the right to freedom of religion. The announcement was coordinated with the European Union, Canada, and Great Britain governments, each of which imposed their own sanctions on the same officials.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom applauded the coordinated sanctions as an appropriate response to the atrocities being committed by the Chinese government.
“The atrocities that the CCP has committed, and continues to commit, are an affront to humanity as well as to universal values and international law to which China has agreed,” said Nury Turkel, a member of the Commission, in a public statement.
China has a long history of repressing religious expression. Over the last several decades, it is known to have forced abortions on its citizens, sterilised women without their consent, and murdered religious minorities to sell their organs on the black market.
Christian home churches attempt to escape government scrutiny, but even they are often raided and their members arrested on charges of working against the interests of the state.
Source: persecution.org
