The Wall Street Journal, 28 July 2014 

WASHINGTON—The State Department on Monday released a report documenting the largest international displacement of religious communities “in recent memory” in 2013, particularly in conflicts with religious or sectarian dimensions.

The release of the annual report was accompanied by the introduction of the Obama administration’s nominee as the next ambassador-at-large for religious freedom. Rabbi David Saperstein, a reform rabbi and lawyer with experience working in Washington to advance religious freedom, would lead the State Department’s Office of Religious Freedom, which monitors religious abuses across the globe, if confirmed by the Senate.

In its report on religious freedom for 2013, the State Department highlighted how sectarian conflicts in Syria, the Central African Republic and Iraq, among others, forced religious minorities to flee.

“One of the troubling trends identified in this year’s report is how sectarian violence continues to displace families and devastate communities,” U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.

Mr. Kerry condemned brutal tactics employed by the extremist group calling itself the Islamic State, formerly known as ISIS or ISIL, particularly its killing of Shiite Muslims in Iraq and forced conversions or evictions of Christians in the city of Mosul.

The 2013 report on religious freedom criticized governments in North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, China and Pakistan, for using repressive policies and discriminatory laws to target religious minorities.

“We also have a long way to go when governments use national security as an excuse to repress members of minority religious groups,” Mr. Kerry said, pointing to Russia’s use of punitive laws against extremism to persecute religious minorities and the Chinese government’s targeting of Christians, Buddhists and Uighur Muslims.

In Iran, Mr. Kerry called on the government to release Saeed Abedini, a pastor and dual U.S.-Iranian citizen imprisoned on charges related to his religious beliefs.

Tom Malinowski, assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor, said Monday that Europe is seeing the troubling rise of nationalist parties voicing intolerance for Jews and Muslims. He pointed to Hungary, where local government officials and political leaders are pursuing efforts to repair the reputations of several World War II-era figures associated with anti-Semitism.

Mr. Kerry said the report demonstrates U.S. commitment to advancing religious freedom abroad. He called the report “a clear-eyed, objective look” at the state of international religious freedom that is intended to identify abuses and encourage countries, including allies, “to try to make progress.”

Write to Felicia Schwartz at [email protected]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/2013-saw-largest-displacement-of-religious-minorities-1406575776