WATCH: Blinken discusses new International Religious Freedom report

Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Monday about the release of the 2022 International Religious Freedom report.

Watch the briefing in the player above.

The International Religious Freedom report is compiled annually by the State Department and “describes the status of religious freedom, government policies violating religious belief and practices of groups, religious denominations and individuals, and U.S. policies promoting religious freedom in nearly every country and territory throughout the world,” according to the department’s website.

From the report, Blinken highlighted progress in several parts of the world, including Belgium recognizing Buddhism as a minority religion and Brazil guaranteeing religious freedom for Afro-Brazilian indigenous communities.

“Over the past year we’ve seen real progress in some parts of the world on expanding religious freedom as people demanded their rights. Civil society groups pushed for change and governments listened,” he said.

At the same time, Blinken detailed a rise in “troubling trends” noted in the report, such as “anti-conversion, blasphemy, apostasy laws, which ban the act of leaving a faith, to justify harassment against … humanists, atheists, and LGBTQI+ individuals.”

Blinken also affirmed U.S. support of advocates for religious freedom as well as those who seek the right to abstain from religious beliefs.

“We defend the right to believe or to not believe,” he said, “not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because of the extraordinary good that people of faith can do in our societies and around the world.”