A bipartisan U.S. government watchdog group is urging the State Department to designate more than a dozen nations as “countries of particular concern,” including Syria and Libya, for severe violations of religious freedom.
The recommendation appears in the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s 2026 Annual Report, which was released Wednesday.
In the report, USCIRF identified Afghanistan, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Libya, Nicaragua, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam as CPCs — a classification reserved for governments responsible for or tolerant of “particularly severe” religious freedom abuses.
Most of the nations listed had already been recommended for CPC status in USCIRF’s 2025 report. Libya and Syria were newly added this year.
Regarding Libya, the commission said religious freedom conditions have entered a “downward” trajectory, citing the sentencing of 10 Christians and one atheist to prison terms ranging from three to 15 years because of beliefs deemed inconsistent with government preferences.
"Across the country, minority religious communities continued to face ongoing persecution at the hands of government authorities, including harassment, arbitrary detention, and societal discrimination against foreign and local Christians, disfavored Muslim groups (including Sufis and Ibadis), and suspected converts from Islam," the annual report states.
The report also warned that the situation in Syria has worsened significantly. According to USCIRF, religious freedom conditions in the conflict-ridden nation “dramatically deteriorated” in 2025.
The commission cited the transitional government’s inability to “prevent, curb, or adequately administer justice for multiple mass killings, kidnappings, and other egregious acts of violence against Alawis, Druze, Christians, and other religious minorities.”
One example highlighted in the report was the mass killing of more than 1,500 Alawites in March 2025 following what USCIRF described as transitional authorities’ “general mobilization calls.”
"Militants conducted mass door-to-door executions of Alawi civilians in Tartus, Latakia, and Hama, deploying religious slurs such as 'Alawi Nusayri pigs' against their victims and killing at least 1,500 people in the first two days," the report reads. "In April, armed actors reacted violently to false social media reports that a Druze leader had insulted the [Islamic] Prophet Muhammad, firing on Druze residents in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana and kicking off several days of fatal clashes."
The commission also referenced a deadly attack in June, when a suspected suicide bomber targeted the Mar Elias Antiochian/Greek Orthodox Church in Damascus, killing at least 25 Christians during a Sunday service.
In addition to CPC recommendations, USCIRF advised the State Department to place several countries on its “Special Watch List,” a second-tier category for governments involved in or tolerating “severe” violations of religious freedom.
The nations recommended for inclusion on the Special Watch List include Algeria, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Qatar, Turkey and Uzbekistan.
All 11 countries were also recommended for placement on the list in the commission’s 2025 report, which had additionally suggested Syria for the same category.
The report noted that the State Department has not issued updated CPC or Special Watch List designations since 2023.
According to the commission, the delay is partly tied to the absence of a confirmed U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom after the Senate failed to confirm President Donald Trump’s nominee, Mark Walker.
Walker’s nomination expired at the beginning of the year, but he was later appointed in January to serve in an advisory capacity on religious freedom issues within the State Department, a role that does not require Senate confirmation.
