As a country governed by the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, we value the freedom for people to choose their own religion. As Americans we need to encourage countries that suppress people’s religious and other basic human rights.

The world, in the form of the United Nations, has agreed all people should enjoy basic human rights, including the right to worship freely.

But even with this basic right outlined in U.N. principles, countries around the world are repressing their people.

According to a State Department report on international religious freedom released Monday, China, Myanmar, Cuba, Laos, North Korea and Vietnam participate in widespread repression of religion.

Secretary of State Colin Powell told The Associated Press that governments of those countries make it “difficult and even dangerous for people to follow the dictates of their conscience and to practice their faith.”

We do business with these countries, and in doing so promote their governments’ repression of human rights.

It is our duty as a world leader to let these business partners know that we do not support the suppression of people’s religious beliefs.

We cannot promote a government that participates in religious repression.

The right answer is not to cease connections with these countries but to positively influence them through our economic power.

According to the State Department report, these governments see religious worship as a threat to a dominant ideology.

The governments of these countries continue to control the “growth and scope of the activity of religious groups to prevent the rise of possible sources of authority outside of the control of the government.”

The United States needs to be a leader in the promotion of global religious freedom to help end the repression of those who do not subscribe to state religions.

The suppression of basic human rights cannot be ignored, not by a nation that holds them so dear in its foundation.