WASHINGTON, April 30 (AFP) - A US federal commission on Monday urged President George W. Bush's new administration to renew the fight against global religious repression, targeting abuses in nations including China, India, Vietnam and Sudan.
In its annual report, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) made a series of policy recommendations, seeking to insert a drive for religious freedom squarely in US foreign and economic policy.
Recommendations on China and Vietnam look set to be particularly controversial -- both countries have recently angrily condemned the commission, set up as a federal entity to advise the government on policy on religious freedom.
Basing its report on data collected by the State Department and other sources, the group called on Bush's team to "persistently urge the Chinese government" to take a series of steps to improve what it said was a worsening record on religious toleration.
US officials should consistently press China to allow freedom of worship and to stop imprisoning believers and religious leaders, it said.
Companies should be made to disclose business in China and the extent to which US capital markets are used to fund operations so shareholders can decide whether to invest, in the light of Beijing's record, the report said.
The multi-denominational commission also called on the US government to join the campaign to deprive China of the 2008 Olympic Games over its human rights record.
Commissioners also called on Congress to pass a free trade pact with Hanoi only once it had approved a resolution calling on the "Vietnamese government to make substantial improvements in the protection of religious freedom, or after the Vietnamese government undertakes obligations to the United States to make these improvements."
The commission has repeatedly clashed with the communist government in Hanoi in recent months over its investigations into what it, and other US government entities say is a poor record on religious tolerance.
Sudan was lashed in the report for committing "egregious human rights abuses," and commissioners pointed to the government's use of funds from foreign oil companies in a campaign of repression against the civilian population.
A US envoy should be appointed and directed to work towards a peaceful settlement of the country's civil war and an end to rights abuses committed by the government, the report urged.
The government should also bolster economic sanctions against Sudan, amid reports that the government had deliberately bombed and strafed civilian and humanitarian targets, the survey said.
And mirroring recommendations on China, the commission said all companies doing business in Sudan should be forced to disclose their operations and their use of US capital markets.
The report also noted rising instances of violence against religious minorities in India, mainly by Hindu nationalist groups against Muslims and Christians.
It called on the US government to make its concern over the situation clear in contacts with the Indian government.
The report also censured Pakistan's military government for "clearly not doing enough to adequately protect the religious freedom of all its citizens."
Russia was also put on notice, as the report urged the US government to watch closely at a "critical moment" in Russian history, to monitor Moscow's treatment of unregistered religious groups, discriminatory laws, and anti Semitic and anti-Muslim extremists.
USCIRF was set up by Congress in 1998 to advise the government on how best to promote religious freedom.
Its nine members are appointed by the president and leaders of Congress on a bipartisan basis.