Tag: UN

Mass arrest of Thailand’s Christian asylum seekers

March 13, 2015 Asylum seekers, Bangkok, Children, Islamic extremism, Pakistan, Refugees, Southeast Asia, Thailand, UN

Thailand’s internal political pressures on its Bangkok UNHCR office has resulted in the arrest of at least 50 Pakistani Christian asylum seekers, a church leader there told World Watch Monitor. On March 7, the Chief of Pakistan’s Christian Congress wrote to the Thai Prime Minister, about arrests of those registered . . . Read More

Vietnam still violates religious freedom

March 12, 2015 Vietnam Cambodia, Minorities, Montagnards, Religious freedom, UN, Vietnam

The message at the annual UN Human Rights Council in Geneva this week was clear: Vietnam still struggles to ensure religious freedom for its citizens. ‘Whereas religious life and religious diversity are a reality in Vietnam today, autonomy and activities of independent religious or belief communities – that is, unrecognised . . . Read More

UN Security Council is ‘failing Syria’

March 12, 2015 Syria Civil War, Syria, UK, UN, USA

Leading humanitarian groups, including Oxfam and Save the Children, in a report to mark four years of the Syrian war, accuse UN Security Council members of lacking the will to stop the fighting. The Failing Syria report says the 15-member Security Council, which includes the US and UK, has not . . . Read More

Mid East Christians on UN Security Council agenda?

March 10, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country France, Middle East, Minorities, Morocco, Rabat, UN

France, whose turn it is to preside over the next UN Security Council meeting on March 27th, says that it plans to discuss the situation of Christians and other minorities in the Middle East. The French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, told a news conference in Rabat, Morocco on 9 March that . . . Read More

IS invades 35 Assyrian towns in Syria

February 24, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Qamishli, UN

Militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State launched a fierce offensive before dawn Feb. 23, targeting 35 Assyrian Christian villages in the northeast corner of Syria. The surprise attacks along a 40-kilometer stretch of the Khabour River in Hassaka province forced some 3,000 Christians to flee their homes. A teenage . . . Read More

Boko Haram’s attacks spread into Niger sparking mass exodus

February 13, 2015 Niger Boko Haram, Charlie Hebdo, Diffa, Islamic extremism, Lake Chad, Niamey, Niger, Nigeria, UN, Zinder

Nigeria’s neighbour to its north, French-speaking Niger, is the latest country to pledge its army will fight the radical Islamic group, Boko Haram. Boko Haram’s military and strategic advance has already provoked the postponement of Nigeria’s Presidential election, due to have been held this Saturday, 14 February. The election is . . . Read More

North Korea’s human rights in UN spotlight

December 23, 2014 North Korea China, North Korea, Russia, UN

Despite initial opposition from China and Russia, the UN Security Council is discussing North Korea’s human rights record. According to the BBC, this comes ‘days after the UN General Assembly voted in favour of referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court to face charges of crimes against humanity.’ Earlier . . . Read More

Human Rights Day but Article 18 violated every day

December 11, 2014 North Korea Divorce, Kim Il-Sung, Kim Jong-il, UN

Drawing made by a former prisoner who was detained in the Chongori prison. North Korean prisoner pretends to be asleep and uses food to catch a mouse which he will eat raw.United Nations Human Rights “Christmas in a N. Korean gulag will be just another day of grotesque suffering” . . . Read More

Priest kidnapped, dozens killed amidst renewed violence in C. African Rep

October 21, 2014 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bangui, Bozoum, Central African Republic, Seleka, UN

Fr Mateusz Dziedzic, has been living in CAR since 2009, where he runs nursery schools.Courtesy of Catholic Church in CAR A Polish priest has been abducted by armed men in the Central African Republic, amidst rising tension which has claimed dozens of lives in recent days. Father Mateusz Dziedzic . . . Read More

Iran appears to fight Islamic State, but are their ultimate goals too similar for comfort?

October 16, 2014 Iran Behnam Irani, Hamas, Hassan Rouhani, Hezbollah, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State, UK, UN, USA

ISISKarl-Ludwig Poggemann / Flickr / Creative Commons It says something about the depths of worldwide revulsion to the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” that Western powers such as the US and the UK have been sitting at the same table with Iran to discuss how to defeat the deadly Islamist movement . . . Read More

Catching Our Eye