Washington D.C., Apr 21, 2021 / 15:00 pm
Some countries used the COVID-19 pandemic to target religious minorities last year, a federal commission revealed on Wednesday.
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan federal commission, released its 2021 Annual Report on Wednesday. Among its findings, USCIRF said that some governments targeted religious minorities through misinformation campaigns or with disproportionate restrictions during the pandemic.
USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin, who is also the wife of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), told reporters on a Wednesday press call that “in many cases, these [public health] measures complied with international human rights standards,” but in some places they did not.
“There were countries that blamed COVID-19 on a particular religion,” adding, they used the pandemic “as an excuse,” she said.