"The constitution and other laws and policies protect religious freedom and, in practice, the government generally respected religious freedom. The government demonstrated a trend towards improvement in respect for and protection of the right to religious freedom," reads the report published on Monday.
The document provides an overview of legal regulation of religious communities and the attitude of the government and the public. The US emphasized the substantial contribution of the government and the public to protect the Jewish heritage last year, even though there were some anti-Semitic manifestations.
In the assessment of the situation across Europe, the Department of State noted that increasing ethnic, racial, and religious diversity leads to growing xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance of Islam.
According to the report, legal acts on apparel adopted in some European countries, such as Belgium and France, affect Muslims. Hungary also came under criticism for adopting a new law, which envisages that the parliament should vote to recognize religious organizations. Enforcement of the law this year pulled down the number of recognized religious organizations from 300 to 32.
As to global tendencies, the US Department of State warned that religious freedom was in danger in many countries. China was criticized for its actions against Tibetan Buddhists, with severe criticism of North Korea, Burma, Eritrea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.
