Tag: Middle East

Qatar conference: ‘no peace in Middle East without democracy and rule of law’

October 25, 2017 Arabian Peninsula, Arabs, Copts, Doha, Egypt, Iraq, Middle East, Minorities, Qatar

A two-day conference in Qatar earlier this week focused on the plight of Arab Christians and the threats they face through wars and conflicts in the Middle East, recognising there is “no magic wand” to deal with inter-religious and sectarian strife. Bomb attacks on Coptic churches in Egypt and forced . . . Read More

UN ‘overlooked’ IS crime of forced displacement

October 17, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Rex Tillerson, Syria, UN, Yazidis

Iraqi Christians ask the international community for help as they are facing annihilation by Islamic State. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Campaigners for Christian and Yazidi victims of the Islamic State group welcomed the UN’s decision last month to recognise the Islamic State group’s crimes as “genocide”, but human rights advocate Ewelina Ochab questions why “forced displacement” wasn’t included. The UN Security Council voted unanimously to create an investigative team to . . . Read More

Hungary’s response to urgent need to help persecuted Christians ‘stay in their homelands’

October 13, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Ankawa, Ayatollah Khomeini, Bartella, Erbil, Genocide, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Kurds, Middle East, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Soviet Union, Syria, Tel Skuf, Viktor Orbán

Referring to his country’s experience of oppression during the Soviet Union era, the Hungarian Prime Minister has once again explained why his government has been the first – and so far the only – government to specifically address the persecution of Christians around the world. Yesterday (12 October) he pledged . . . Read More

More than 80 countries ‘favour’ one religion over others – Pew Research Center

October 5, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Apostasy, Armenians, Assyrians, Azerbaijan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Central Asia, China, Comoros, Converts, Cuba, India, Iran, Islamic extremism, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Maldives, Mauritania, Middle East, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Africa, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Soviet Union, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

Over 80 countries favour a specific religion, either officially as a state religion or tacitly through special treatment, according to a new report by the US-based Pew Research Center. Islam is the most common state religion – 27 countries have it as their official religion, including 16 of the 20 . . . Read More

Iraq: today’s vote on Kurdish independence is troubling the Middle East

September 25, 2017 Iraq Elections, Iraq, Islamic State, Kirkuk, Kurds, Middle East, Nineveh Plains, Yazidis

Iraq’s Kurds went to the polls today (25 September) to vote on whether to become a new state, independent of Iraq. According to Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty (RFERL) the vast majority will have voted “yes” to the question on the ballot paper: “Do you want the Kurdistan region and . . . Read More

‘Milestone’ as UN votes to create team to collect evidence of IS’s crimes

September 22, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Antonio Guterres, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Jan Figel, Lord Alton, Middle East, Rex Tillerson, Syria, UN, Yazidis

Desecrated church I in Qaraqosh, Iraq. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Campaigners for Christian and Yazidi victims of the Islamic State group welcomed a vote at the United Nations yesterday (21 September), hailed as a “milestone” in their efforts to bring perpetrators of atrocities to justice. The UN Security Council voted unanimously to create an investigative team to collect evidence of . . . Read More

EU urged to make religious freedom envoy permanent

September 18, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Europe, Jan Figel, Middle East, Religious freedom

Ján Figeľ, the European Union’s Special Envoy for freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) outside the EU, has had his 12-month mandate extended by another year, but it should be longer, reports EU news specialist Euractiv. According to Belgium-based Sophia Kuby, Director of European Union Advocacy for religious freedom campaigners . . . Read More

Women in Tunisia now free to marry spouse of choice

September 15, 2017 Tunisia Islamic extremism, Middle East, North Africa, Tunisia, Women

A group of women in Tunisia. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Women in Tunisia can now marry whomever they wish, even if their spouse is a non-Muslim, reports the BBC. The announcement today was made by the spokeswoman for President Beji Caid Essebsi. Previously, only men in the 99 per cent Muslim nation had the freedom to marry a non-Muslim, while, . . . Read More

Historic Armenian Cathedral desecrated in southeast Turkey

September 15, 2017 Turkey Diyarbakir, Kurds, Middle East, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Surp Giragos, Turkey

Eighteen months after the Turkish government seized control of the largest Armenian cathedral in the Middle East, secretly taken photographs inside Diyarbakir’s Surp Giragos Armenian Apostolic Church reveal considerable damage to the sanctuary and walls of the now desecrated church in southeast Turkey. Published by The Armenian Weekly, the exclusive . . . Read More

Indian priest released after 18 months’ captivity in Yemen

September 12, 2017 Yemen Aden, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Ansar al-Sharia, Hodeidah, Islamic State, Middle East, Sana'a, Taiz, Tom Uzhunnalil, Yemen

India’s Church, government and politicians from across the political landscape have all expressed relief and joy over the release of Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil, kidnapped in Yemen in March 2016. Statements hailing the release of the Indian priest have poured in – from India’s foreign minister, Sushma Swaraj, to the . . . Read More

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