‘Country of Particular Concern’ – What You Need to Know

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‎US President Donald Trump has redesignated Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern’ (CPC).
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‎Trump’s announcement on Friday was in response to allegations of a Christian genocide in the country.
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‎It is not the first time the US president has made such a move. In the last year of his first term as president in 2020, Nigeria was designated a CPC. However, the Joe Biden administration later removed Nigeria from the list.
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‎Trump’s redesignation comes after months of pressure from US lawmakers asking the president and Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State, to make the move.
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‎But what does it mean to be a country of particular concern?
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‎HOW THE CPC DESIGNATION WORKS
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‎A CPC is a country that shows clear and consistent patterns of religious intolerance, discrimination, or persecution. It is a designation made by the US Secretary of State with the president’s authority.
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‎States are identified as CPCs based on what the US International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 establishes as “severe violations of religious freedom”.
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‎The act lists the severe violations as:
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‎Torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
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‎Prolonged detention without charges
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‎Causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons
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‎Other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons
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‎IS CPC A GLOBALLY RECOGNISED DESIGNATION?
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‎No. The designation of a CPC is unique to the US.
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‎No other country or international body uses this exact designation in the same formalised manner.
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‎WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS CLASSIFICATION?
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‎When the US designates a state as a CPC, Congress is notified to impose non-economic policy options designed to bring about cessation of the particularly severe violations of religious freedom. Where these options have been exhausted, an economic measure follows.
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‎Examples of both options could include strong diplomatic engagement and public condemnation, restricting or withdrawing development assistance, limiting or suspending security assistance, opposing loans, or blocking export licenses.
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‎DID THE US APPLY ANY SANCTIONS ON NIGERIA IN THE LAST DESIGNATION?
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‎After the US designated Nigeria a CPC on December 2, 2020, it announced a waiver of sanctions that usually accompany such a move.
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‎The state department said the decision was made in the “important national interest of the United States”.
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‎WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES HAS THE US DESIGNATED AS CPCs IN THE PAST?
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‎The most recent CPC designations were made in 2023.
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‎They were Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
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‎Source
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