Tag: Religious freedom

Sudan: ‘Put brakes on’ normalising relations, rights groups tell US

May 16, 2018 Sudan Churches, Human rights, Religious freedom, Sahel, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, UK, USA

A Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel soldier in South Kordofan state where thousands of people fled the Nuba Mountains in 2012 to escape fighting between the rebel group and the government's armed forces. (Photo: ADRIANE OHANESIAN/AFP/GettyImages)

Rights groups have urged the United States to refrain from removing Sudan from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. “New circumstances have emerged in Sudan that make US efforts at full normalisation dramatically ill-timed,” said the Washington DC-based Enough Project in a recent report. The NGO, which focuses on . . . Read More

Landmark judgment on Pakistani religious minorities yet to be honoured by the state

May 14, 2018 Pakistan All Saints Church, Blasphemy, Education, Human rights, Islamabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Minorities, Pakistan, Peshawar, Religious freedom

When a bomber killed 127 people at a Pakistan church, the country’s Supreme Court issued a list of instructions to the government to protect religious minorities. Four years later, the government has yet to follow most of them. As with the religious freedom guaranteed in Pakistan’s constitution, the government’s lacklustre . . . Read More

Religious freedom reduces terrorism, says US ambassador Brownback

May 11, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country China, Donald Trump, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Religious freedom, Sam Brownback, Saudi Arabia, Terrorism, USA

Sam Brownback was confirmed as Ambassador-at-large for International Religious Freedom in January.

If countries want less terrorism within their borders, they should give religious freedom to their people, says US religious freedom ambassador Sam Brownback. During a policy hearing in Washington DC on Wednesday (9 May), he said one country that had been a “bad actor” for a long time was now . . . Read More

Report: Latin American states failing Christians by overlooking ‘criminal freedom’

May 11, 2018 Catholics, Colombia, Corruption, Human rights, Latin America, Mexico, Organised crime, Proselytism, Protestants, Religious freedom

During the 50 years conflict between Colombia's government and main rebel group, FARC-EP, churches were threatened and hundreds of church leaders assassinated by armed groups. (Photo: World Watch Monitor, 2012)

A new report looking into the “endemic phenomena” of organised crime and corruption in Latin America highlights the failure of governments to protect active Christians from violence. The inability or unwillingness of Latin American governments to stop organised crime encourages a “criminal freedom” that “makes specific sectors within society become . . . Read More

Nepal: Catholic church interior ‘entirely destroyed’ after arson

May 11, 2018 Nepal Catholics, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, Kohalpur, Minorities, Nepal, Religious freedom, UN

Christians are concerned about a campaign to make Nepal a Hindu nation. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Catholic church in Nepal’s western Banke District has been left badly damaged following an arson attack last week, according to Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW). A group of between eight and ten unidentified arsonists reportedly warned locals to stay inside their houses, before breaking into St. Joseph’s, in the town . . . Read More

Brunson’s lawyer: secret witness practice ‘absolutely outlandish’

May 10, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, Gaziantep, Izmir, Kurds, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Religious freedom, Şanliurfa, Suruç, Terrorism, Turkey, UN, USA

Lawyer Ismail Cem Halavurt speaking with journalists at the entrance to the Sakran Prison complex on 7 May, 2018.

At the close of Turkey’s second trial hearing against US pastor Andrew Brunson, his lawyer has sharply protested the Izmir court’s reliance on secret prosecution witnesses against his client. Jailed for the past 19 months, the 50-year-old Evangelical Presbyterian minister was sent back to his cell in a maximum-security prison . . . Read More

Four-year sentence for Indonesian pastor who evangelised a taxi driver

May 10, 2018 Indonesia Banten, Blasphemy, Indonesia, Muhammadiyah, Proselytism, Protestants, Quran, Religious freedom, Tangerang

A Protestant pastor has been sentenced to four years in prison for religious defamation after discussing Christianity with a Muslim taxi driver in Indonesia, the Jakarta Post reports. The Tangerang District Court in Banten also ordered that Rev. Abraham Ben Moses, 52, pay a fine of 50 million Rupiah (US$3,565) . . . Read More

A Christian escapee from North Korea has his doubts about Kim’s peace overtures

May 9, 2018 North Korea Bibles, Communism, Corruption, Donald Trump, Human rights, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Pyongyang, Religious freedom, South Korea, Torture, Vietnam

South Koreans at the Seoul Railway Station on 9 May, 2018 watch on a screen reporting the visit of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, to meet North Korea Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, right.

What North Korea’s leader seeks from the international community is appeasement and not peace, let alone the freedom of his own people, a North Korean escapee says. “True peace will have to come alongside freedom of faith, belief, expression, speech for North Korean people,” said the former citizen of North . . . Read More

Report: UN weakness on religious freedom undercuts its authority on human rights

May 9, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-conversion law, Apostasy, Bhutan, Blasphemy, Human rights, India, London, Minorities, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Sam Brownback, Southeast Asia, Sri Lanka, UN, USA, Uttarakhand

Dressed in the saffron colour, groups such these are promoting the nationalist cause for India to be a Hindu-nation. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The UN cannot strengthen, promote and protect human rights if it does not prioritise religious freedom, a report published by the Washington-based human rights alliance, ADF International has argued. The 73-page report, titled “Anti-Conversion Laws and the International Response”, claims that “some UN entities, especially special rapporteurs, have highlighted the . . . Read More

Religious freedom is a prerequisite for democracy – US commission

May 8, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country China, Human rights, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Religious freedom, Russia, Sinicisation, Soviet Union, Terrorism, USA, Vladimir Putin

China's catholic dioceses are to respond to the government led campaign of the 'sinicization of religion' with a plan of action. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A wealth of research shows that a society’s level of religious freedom is linked to its levels of critical social indicators, such as prosperity, stability and peace, the chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom told British parliamentarians. Dr. Daniel Mark, chairman of USCIRF, an independent, bipartisan federal . . . Read More

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