Pursuant to Section 408(a) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-292), as amended (the Act), notice is hereby given that, on November 30, 2022, the Secretary of State, under authority delegated by the President, has designated each of the following as a “country of particular concern” (CPC) under section 402(b) of the Act, for having engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom: Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The Secretary simultaneously designated the following as satisfying the requirement to take Presidential Action for these CPCs:

In addition, the Secretary of State has designated the following countries as “special watch list” countries for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom: Algeria, the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam.

Pursuant to Section 408(a) of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-292), notice is hereby given that, on November 30, 2022, the Secretary of State, under authority delegated by the President, has designated each of the following as an “entity of particular concern” under section 301 of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act of 2016 (Pub. L. 114-281), for having engaged in particularly severe violations of religious freedom: Al-Shabaab, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, ISIS-Sahel (formerly known as ISIS in the Greater Sahara), ISIS-West Africa, Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, the Taliban, and Wagner Group based on its actions in the Central African Republic.