EXPLAINER: What does it mean to be a country of particular concern?

US President Donald Trump has redesignated Nigeria a ‘country of particular concern’ (CPC).

Trump’s announcement on Friday was in response to allegations of a Christian genocide in the country.

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.

Trump’s redesignation comes after months of pressure from US lawmakers asking the president and Marco Rubio, secretary of state, to make the move.

But what does it mean to be a country of particular concern?

HOW THE CPC DESIGNATION WORKS

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.

States are identified as CPCs based on what the US International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998 establishes as “severe violations of religious freedom”.

The act lists the severe violations as:

• Torture or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment
• Prolonged detention without charges
• Causing the disappearance of persons by the abduction or clandestine detention of those persons
• Other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons

IS CPC A GLOBALLY RECOGNISED DESIGNATION?

No. The designation of a CPC is unique to the US.

No other country or international body uses this exact designation in the same formalised manner.

WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THIS CLASSIFICATION?

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.

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.

DID THE US APPLY ANY SANCTIONS ON NIGERIA IN THE LAST DESIGNATION?

After the US designated Nigeria a CPC on December 2, 2020, it announced a waiver of sanctions that usually accompany such a move.

The state department said the decision was made in the “important national interest of the United States”.

WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES HAS THE US DESIGNATED AS CPCs IN THE PAST?