WASHINGTON – The Latest on the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom (all times local):
10:15 a.m.
The Trump administration says ethnic cleansing targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has not stopped despite growing condemnation from the international community.
In November, the United States declared that violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state constituted ethnic cleansing, and the U.S. imposed sanctions. U.S. Ambassador Sam Brownback said Tuesday as he unveiled the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom that the violence is continuing.
The report estimates that about 680,000 people fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh to escape the violence.
The report covering 2017 also highlighted other U.S. concerns about religious freedom abroad, including some 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are being held in prison camps in North Korea, some for religious reasons.
It says hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims in China have been forcibly sent to re-education centers.
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9:10 a.m.
The Trump administration is estimating that 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are being held in prison camps in North Korea.
That's according to the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom. It says some of the prisoners are being held for religious reasons. The report adds that prisoners are held "under horrific conditions" in remote areas. Yet it also notes that North Korea's constitution guarantees "the right of faith" to citizens.
The report covering 2017 also says that "hundreds of thousands" of Uighur Muslims in China have been forcibly sent to re-education centers in China.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is formally unveiling the report Tuesday.