Tag: Religious freedom

Uzbekistan says religious freedom ‘progressing’, despite new restrictions

July 26, 2018 Uzbekistan Ahmed Shaheed, Human rights, Religious freedom, Uzbekistan

Legislators in Uzbekistan's Lower House have to sign off a series of reform bills that will improve the human rights situation in the country. (Photo: Valery SharifulinTASS via Getty Images)

Uzbekistan is progressing towards rapid transformation, including political, economic, and importantly, religious freedom,” said the deputy chairman of the Uzbek Senate yesterday (25 July) at a side event to the first Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom currently being held in Washington DC. “Uzbekistan is progressing towards rapid transformation, including political, . . . Read More

‘Lack of religious freedom anywhere is a threat everywhere,’ Sam Brownback tells religious freedom summit

July 25, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country China, Mike Pompeo, Religious freedom, Sam Brownback, USA, Uyghurs, Xinjiang

Christian leaders in Iran have said that pressure on Christians increases every year around Christmas but that this year it is particularly severe. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, urged government and faith leaders, and civil society, to work together to enhance global religious freedom, at the opening of the first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington DC yesterday (24 July). In his opening words, Brownback, who was appointed in . . . Read More

Eritrea releases at least 35 Christians from prison

July 20, 2018 Eritrea Asmara, Eritrea, Human rights, Prisons, Religious freedom

A residential neighbourhood in the capital Asmara. More than 35 Christians were released from jail this week. (Photo: David Stanley)

Eritrea released at least 35 Christians from prison earlier this week, reports the Eritrean news site Asmarino Independent. The prisoners, among them 11 women, were released on bail from Mai-Sirwa prison, just outside the capital Asmara. While five were able to leave on Tuesday (17 July), the remaining 30 were . . . Read More

China: Xinjiang’s children in orphanages as their parents held in re-education camps

July 20, 2018 China Children, China, Religious freedom, Uyghurs, Women, Xinjiang

As a rally in support of China’s prisoners of conscience took place in the streets of Washington DC last week, an ongoing Chinese government crackdown on its Uyghur-people in Xinjiang province is tearing both Muslim and Christian families and communities apart. The rally, hosted by five rights groups in the . . . Read More

UK bishops urge government to put money where mouth is on religious freedom

July 16, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Human rights, Religious freedom, Tariq Ahmad

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

Catholic bishops in England and Wales have urged the British government to ensure its foreign policy reflects its written pledges to defend religious freedom around the world. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales filed a submission to the House of Commons Inquiry promoting Human Rights around the world. . . . Read More

Philippines: Bangsamoro draft law includes religious freedom provision

July 13, 2018 Philippines Bangsamoro, Marawi, Maute, Mindanao, Philippines, Religious freedom, Rodrigo Duterte

The siege of the city of Marawi in Mindanao by Islamists one year ago, displaced many people. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The final draft of the law that will give greater autonomy to the southern Philippines region of Mindanao will include a provision allowing for religious freedom in the majority-Muslim territory, reports Catholic news agency UCAN. A panel of members from both the lower house and the Senate is expected to . . . Read More

Nepal: Couple deported for ‘converting Hindus into Christians’

July 13, 2018 Nepal Kathmandu, Nepal, Proselytism, Religious freedom

Proselytism is a crime in majority-Hindu Nepal. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Christian couple have been deported from Nepal after they were accused of proselytism, a criminal offence in the country, reports national newspaper The Himalayan Times. De Vera Richard, from the Philippines, and his Indonesian wife Rita Gonga had been staying in Nepal on business visas and were running a . . . Read More

China: Henan churches told to sing national anthem at services

July 12, 2018 China Catholics, China, Henan, House churches, Religious freedom

The outside of a registered church. Churches in Henan are now required to have a Chinese flag on display and to sing the national anthem at each service. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Local authorities in China’s central Henan province have stipulated that all churches must have a Chinese flag on display and sing the national anthem at each gathering. In the “Special Emergency Notice” circulated earlier this month, they also asked clergy to collect data on their members, especially on those from . . . Read More

India: 16 more Christians detained under Jharkhand’s ‘anti-conversion law’

July 10, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Caste, Dalits, Hindu nationalism, India, Jharkhand, Missionaries, Proselytism, Religious freedom, RSS

A number of the Christians who were arrested by police, after they held a prayer service at the house of a Christian family in Phulpahari, India. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A group of 16 Indian tribal Christians who visited another tribal family in the eastern state of Jharkhand to talk to them about Christianity are in police custody after the local village head accused them of “conversion by inducement”. Last year, Jharkhand became the seventh Indian state to introduce a . . . Read More

Attack on seven Iranian Christians exposes religious minorities’ ‘extreme vulnerability’ in refugee camps

July 10, 2018 Converts, Greece, Iran, Minorities, Refugees, Religious freedom, Switzerland, UN

Refugee camps in Greece are "microcosms of the Middle East with all the same ethnic and religious tensions" which are being intensified here, causing violence. (Photo: Photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

Five Christian converts and two children from Iran were attacked last month in a refugee camp in Greece and told to leave as “this is a Muslim camp”. Following the incident, which took place on Sunday 24 June in a camp near the city of Larissa, about 360km northwest of . . . Read More

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