This is the first time since 2004that India has been placed in this category for engaging in and tolerating systematic, and ongoing religious freedom violations, as defined by the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), 1998. The report which documented significant religious developments during 2019 has placed 14 countriesunder CPC viz. Burma, China, Eritrea, India, Iran, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Vietnam. About USCIRF: Created by IRFA, USCIRF is an independent U.S. government advisory body, separate from the State Department that monitors religious freedom abroad and makes policy recommendations to the president, secretary of state, and Congress. Headquarters – Washington, D.C., United States Chair– Tony Perkins About IRFA, 1998 Enacted in 1998 by US Congress, it promotes religious freedom as a foreign policy of the United States.
