Washington, USA - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain vowed in a speech on Wednesday to make freedom of religion a key foreign policy issue if he is elected to the White House in November.
"There is no right more fundamental to a free society than the free practice of religion," he said at Oakland University in the state of Michigan.
"Behind walls of prisons and persecuted before our very eyes in places like China, Iran, Burma, Sudan, North Korea and Saudi Arabia are tens of thousands of people whose only crime is to worship God in their own way."
He added: "Whether in bilateral negotiations, or in various multinational organizations to which America belongs, I will make respect for the basic principle of religious freedom a priority in international relations."
According to McCain, no society "that denies religious freedom can ever rightly claim to be good in some other way. And no person can ever be true to any faith that believes in the dignity of all human life if they do not act out of concern for those whose dignity is assailed because of their faith."
In the speech, McCain also excoriated human trafficking -- "slavery by another name" -- which he said exists "in places like Thailand, Kuwait and Venezuela" as well as the United States.
He said that if he was elected president, he would establish a task force "to focus exclusively on the prosecution of human traffickers and the rescue of their victims."
"We must also do more to ensure governments that tolerate human trafficking crack down on this modern form of slavery," he said, describing it as "every bit as important as drug trafficking."
McCain said that he would "insist that our diplomacy actively raise and discourage in our relationships with other countries customs that so degrade and physically threaten people."
The Arizona senator said he would also better coordinate federal, state and local efforts "to ensure maximum cooperation in the pursuit and prosecution of child predators," especially those active on the Internet.
And he said he would "elevate the importance of international cooperation in our relations with other countries to ensure that criminals who traffic in images of child abuse find no haven or quarter in other countries."
McCain, 71, will go head-to-head with the Democratic Party nominee in the November 4 election -- when one is chosen.
He secured enough delegates to represent his party after the Texas and Ohio primaries on March 4, and has been quietly getting on with campaigning while Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama battle it out for the Democratic nomination.
McCain was the first presidential candidate to propose temporarily banning the federal tax on gasoline, a policy subsequently picked up by Clinton.
And on Tuesday he said he would appoint conservative judges like Supreme Court justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito -- and criticized Obama and Clinton for voting against them when they were nominated in 2005 and 2006.
A compilation of polls by independent website RealClearPolitics shows the Arizona senator just slightly behind the two Democratic contenders in national support.
Until now, the media have been relatively kind to McCain, largely accepting his self-portrayal as a military hero, former Vietnam war prisoner and political rebel.