The U.S. will be working against the use of technology to suppress religious minorities, the religious freedom ambassador announced.
“The United States announced that we will pursue the topic of misuse of technology to oppress religious minorities,” said Sam Brownback, Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Free-dom, on a Nov. 17 press call about the 2020 Ministerial to Advance Freedom of Religion or Belief.
Brownback cited China’s abuses against Ughurs; it has created a “virtual police state” to track the movements of the population and to engage in predictive policing.
“We’re seeing this graphically done in Xinjiang, where high-tech observation systems using artificial intelligence and facial recognition are oppressing a dominantly Muslim majority from practicing its faith, this along with being locked up in detention facilities – over a million Muslim Uyghurs locked up in detention facilities,” Brownback said.
Poland hosted the third annual ministerial, held virtually on Nov. 16-17 due to the pandemic. The meeting featured leaders from more than 50 countries and international organizations. –CNA