NEW YORK, July 28 (RIA Novosti) – The US State Department released a report on Monday describing the world’s “largest displacement of religious communities in recent memory” in 2013 as millions of Christians, Muslims and Hindus were forced from their homes by persecution and violence.
“One of the troubling trends identified in this year’s report is how sectarian violence continued to displace families and devastate communities. When 75 percent of world’s population still lives in countries that don’t respect religious freedom, we have a long journey to travel,” US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Washington.
The US Government’s annual International Religious Freedom Report warns that faith groups bore the brunt of violence in Syria, the Central African Republic and Myanmar and other hotspots around the world last year.
In Syria’s flashpoint city of Homs, the number of Christians fell to as few as 1,000 from about 160,000 before violence erupted in 2011. The report also warns of heavy-handed persecution of religious groups in Turkmenistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, China and Eritrea.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other US-based rights groups have complained about US investigators violating the rights of Muslims in their bid to crack down on suspected home-grown terrorists since the 9/11 attacks on Washington and New York.
