Tag: Religious freedom

‘In context of gender justice, women’s right to freedom of religion pretty much ignored’

March 19, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country Converts, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, India, Minorities, Religious freedom, Women

Anurima Bhargava (USCIRF) and Helene Fisher (Open Doors) at UN NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief CSW side event, 14 March, 2019

She is a woman who can be identified only as “Z”, for her security. She is a Christian in India, a country that is overwhelmingly Hindu. And she is a lawyer defending women and youth from exploitation by landlords and employers, so she was pleased when she got the opportunity . . . Read More

Unity among Cuban Christians unprecedented following constitutional vote

February 28, 2019 Cuba Churches, Constitution, Cuba, Religious freedom

Cubans search their names in lists as they prepare to cast their vote on Cuba's new constitution in Havana, against the backdrop of an image of late Revolution leader Fidel Castro. (Photo: Getty Images)

Cuba’s vote for a new Constitution was characterised by an unusual level of opposition as well as an unprecedented unity among churches. Nearly 87% of the voters approved a new Constitution in a referendum held last Sunday (24 February), while about 15 percent stayed at home and more than 700,000 people voted . . . Read More

Ethiopia: Ethnic Somali Christian police man forced to relocate after talking about his faith

February 7, 2019 Ethiopia Ethiopia, Human rights, IDPs, Oromia, Religious freedom, Somali Region

A Christian police officer in Ethiopia's eastern Somali region was advised to return to Islam but refused, claiming a constitutional right to religious freedom. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Ethiopian police officer was arrested, dismissed and forced to move to another part of the country after he told colleagues about his Christian faith The 25-year-old man, who grew up in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region as a member of the nearly 100 percent Muslim Somali tribe, became a Christian . . . Read More

UK wants to build international coalition to address Christian persecution

January 30, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country Human rights, Religious freedom, UK

The war in Syria not just heavily damaged churches like the Greek Orthodox church in the old quarter of Aleppo, it also shattered well-establlished Christian communities. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The United Kingdom wants to build an international coalition of countries to address the persecution of Christians around the world, its Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said at the launch of an independent review of the issue today, 30 January, in London. Hunt announced the initiative of an independent review into . . . Read More

Key trends show in 2019 List of countries where it’s most difficult to live as a Christian

January 16, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country BJP, Blasphemy, Boko Haram, China, Egypt, Hindu nationalism, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Middle East, Minorities, Nigeria, Religious freedom, World Watch List

WWL 2019 key trends, gender, China, woman (photo: VPA)

In its 2019 World Watch List, Open Doors International reports that 11 countries score highly enough to fit into the ‘extreme’ category for the level of persecution of Christians. It was the same last year, but five years ago, only North Korea was in that category. From roughly 2006, and accelerating from 2012, the NGO says the . . . Read More

Indonesia: Cutting of burial cross in public cemetery ‘against constitution’

December 21, 2018 Indonesia Burial, Crosses, Indonesia, Java, Religious freedom

Inside a church in Indonesia. Villagers in Central Java requested the top of a burial cross to be cut before a Catholic was to be buried in what is a public cemetery but is regarded by Muslim groups as 'their' graveyard. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The removal of a cross on the grave of a Catholic before he could be buried in an Indonesian public cemetery has been condemned by the country’s church leaders, reports the Catholic news agency UCAN. Albertus Slamet Sugihardi died in the village of Purbayan, in the province of Central Java. . . . Read More

Pakistan joins US list of worst religious freedom violators

December 13, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, China, Comoros, Eritrea, Iran, Minorities, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan

Burial of victims of a suicide attack on the Methodist Bethel Church in Quetta, Pakistan, on Sunday 17 December 2017 in which at least 9 people were killed. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Pakistan is among the ten countries that appear on the US State Department’s latest list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) for religious-freedom violations, Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, announced in a press statement on Tuesday, 11 December. China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and . . . Read More

UK parliamentary group calls out 27 countries for ‘significant’ religious freedom violations

December 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Ahmed Shaheed, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Egypt, Eritrea, Human rights, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tariq Ahmad, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

A church in Bartella, a town near the Iraqi city of Mosul, after Islamic State militants left the area in October 2016. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A “Commentary on the Current State of Freedom of Religion or Belief” presented by a group of British parliamentarians today, 10 December, highlights 27 countries where people’s religious freedom has been denied and abused in the past year. The report, presented by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International . . . Read More

70 years since universal declaration, human rights ‘ignored and abused all over the world’

December 7, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Andrew Brunson, China, Colombia, Dalits, Don Ossewaarde, Egypt, Ethiopia, Human rights, India, Iran, Iraq, Mexico, Myanmar, New York, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Syria, Turkey, UN

Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Monday, 10 December, rights group ADF International has called for “recommitment” to the founding principles, which it says are being “consistently ignored and abused … all over the world”. Chief among those rights, ADF notes, is the . . . Read More

Nepal ‘anything but progressive’ on religious freedom

December 6, 2018 Nepal Anti-conversion law, Churches, Hindu nationalism, Nepal, Proselytism, Religious freedom

The situation for Christians in Nepal has “worsened” since a new criminal code came into effect earlier this year, writes human rights activist Prakash Khadka for the Catholic news site UCAN. Nepal only became a secular country in 2007. Until that time it had been a Hindu monarchy for centuries . . . Read More

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