Author: Julie Jones

Nigel Baker, UK Ambassador to the Holy See, blogged on this topic yesterday on the Foreign Office website.

“The question of freedom of religion or belief is a challenging and sensitive one. It is a fundamental right, touching the conscience of the individual, underpinning many other rights,” he said, continuing “we must ensure that FoRB remains at the top of our agenda.”

“It is all the more important because, globally, even simple tolerance of other religions, let alone religious freedom (or freedom not to have a religion), appears to be at an increasing premium.”

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Lord Alton of Liverpool, vice chair of this APPG, has asked a series of written questions on issues of persecution.

He asked if the Government have requested that the United National Security Council refer those responsible for religious persecution in the areas of Iraq and Syria controlled by ISIS to the International Criminal Court.

Responding, The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con) said that the Government would continue to look at every available option to ensure accountability in Iraq and Syria; working with international partners on what can be done to both assist the victims and to bring those responsible to justice. Furthermore, Baroness Anelay highlighted that she will fully support the work of the UN Commission of Inquiry and continue calls for them to be given unfettered access to investigate human rights violations and abuses.

He also asked the Government what assessment they have made of the reported burning of churches and forced religious conversions of Christian women by the group Boko Haram, in north-east Nigeria.

Responding, Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con) condemned the destruction of churches and all other atrocities conducted by Boko Haram. She also asserted that the group have caused great suffering across all communities, deliberately targeting the weak and vulnerable with no respect for gender, ethnicity, religion or age. The UK, alongside other international partners, is committed to helping Nigeria end this violence and tackle the threat posed by Boko Haram, Baroness Anelay added.

Finally, he asked the Government what assessment they have made of reports that Christian groups in northern Cameroon have been particularly targeted by Boko Haram. Responding, Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con) said that Boko Haram attacks are often indiscriminate, causing suffering in communities of different faiths and ethnicities in northern Cameroon.

After being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, Malala Yousafza said “One is from Pakistan. One is from India. One believes in Hinduism. One strongly believes in Islam. And it gives a message to people. It gives a message to people of love between Pakistan and India and between different religions. And we both support each other. It does not matter what’s the colour of your skin, what language do you speak, what religion you believe in. It is that we should all consider each other as human beings.”

The United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) in Geneva, Switzerland, is currently reviewing Sri Lanka’s respect for rights enshrined in the key human rights treaty: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This is the first such assessment since 2003.

“Sri Lanka still relies on draconian laws to silence dissent. Torture and enforced disappearances continue unchecked, as do violations of freedom of expression and association. On top of that, Sri Lankan authorities must now answer for escalating attacks against religious minorities. The Sri Lankan authorities have promised time and time again to tackle pressing human rights issues but almost never follow through. The Committee review is an opportunity for the international community to highlight this disconnect, and push the government to take genuine action”, said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Deputy Asia-Pacific Director.

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“Doing more begins with finding the political will to use the many tools already at our disposal,” says Peter van Dalen, Member of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, Co-Chair of the European Parliament Working Group on Freedom of Religion or Belief, in a blog on the Huffington Post.

“Freedom of religion or belief is recognized as a universal human right by all major international human rights conventions. The International Criminal Court should do more to prosecute systemic or widespread religious persecution as a crime against humanity.”

He adds “Last year, the European Union issued guidelines for its diplomats on freedom of religion or belief. The guidelines contain many good ideas about how to recognize (coming) persecution. However, for the implementation of the various steps of sanctions as described in the guidelines the EU will have to find more political will then what’s currently in stock.

“One thing the EU guidelines overlooked is the role of religious leaders. Policymakers should engage, rather than eschew, religious leaders. They may be the problem in a number of countries, but they may also hold the key to solutions. Encouraging them to preach tolerance and making clear that hate speech is not acceptable may help to restored respect for religious freedom.”

He concludes “Faith can be extremely powerful. In a world where religion is often used to hurt and break down, let’s try and channel this power to heal and build up.”

Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Association, has analysed data from the most recent Pew Research Center studies and statistics from the United Nations, and concluded there is a direct correlation between religious freedom and gender equality.

“When you have religious freedom, you have a diversity of both viewpoints and how that religion is interpreted, which allows for a greater examination of women’s role in society,” Grim said. “That means there is greater freedom for women when there is religious freedom.”

The WND exclusive continues “Where religion is allowed to have a voice to give different viewpoints, it can stimulate economic ideas, social ideas,” Grim said. “The benefits of free religious expression are good for society in general, and that coincides with what you’re observing.”

Grim notes that more religious freedom also means more political and business freedom.

“What I found in looking through the data is that when governments restrict religious freedom, that’s the strongest predictor of religious violence. However, all of these things are related,” he said. “Where you have respect for freedom of speech, that means you can also preach freely. It means you can publish freely, and you can have democracy because democracy needs a variety of viewpoints to work.”

American Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Jordan Sekulow commented “When true religious freedom exists, all other freedoms flow naturally from that source.”

Members of Pakistan’s Sikh community say they have been singled out and attacked increasingly, reports Reuters.

“I have run this business for the last 22 years. Never in my life have I experienced such insecurity,” says Amarjeet. “Around 60 percent of our shops are closed due to security concerns. Many parents are not sending their children to schools.”

Last month, Harjeet Singh, another Sikh shopkeeper, was shot dead at his herbal medicine shop in Peshawar, near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan which is home to most of the country’s 40,000 strong Sikh community.

According to police, at least eight Sikhs have been killed in the past year and a half – the first ever recorded sectarian killings of Sikhs in Pakistani history.

“Pakistan is land of the pure for us, it is the birth place of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism. It’s our mother land, we love this soil. Why are we being targeted here?” asked Sardar Charanjit Singh, a Sikh elder.

“People are very frightened, it’s a time of sorrow for us.”

The Vatican is demanding that Christians and other religious minorities from Iraq and Syria have the right to return to their homes that have been emptied by Islamic militants.

Pope Francis summoned Vatican ambassadors from across the region for three days of meetings. At the conclusion on Saturday, they reaffirmed that military force was justified to stop the Islamic State group and that Muslim and Christian religious leaders must denounce the “instrumentalisation of religion to justify violence.”

The ambassadors said the Iraqi and Syrian governments, backed by the international community, must eventually ensure that Christians and other minorities can return to their homelands in safety and freedom.

Noting the 2,000-year presence of Christians there, the ambassadors said: “One cannot resign oneself to conceiving the Middle East without Christians.”

[Associated Press/Christian Broadcasting Network]

Andrew Bennett, Canada’s religious freedom ambassador, begins a one-week fact-finding mission to Ukraine today, convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin is orchestrating the persecution of Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Muslim Tatars.

Russian forces have kidnapped priests, detained nuns, fire-bombed churches and intimidated worshippers, he says.

The Russian forces are targeting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyivan Patriarchate, which Bennett sees as part of a plan by Putin to prop up the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“It’s definitely part of a calculated plan,” Bennett said in an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press. “This is a narrative building upon Russian nationalism that is rooted in Orthodoxy. In Putin’s Russia, we’re seeing again the using of these older constructs within Russian political society and Russian history to advance Russian aims.”

Bennett said he’s hearing reports that Russians want all religious communities in Crimea to re-register as religious communities, as they do in Russia. While that would target Muslim Tartars in Crimea, Bennett said it could be used against Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox groups, particularly the Kyivan Patriarchate in eastern Ukraine.

“This has been used in the past as an administrative form of persecution.”

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The Moscow Patriarchate views its Kyivan counterpart as a breakaway sect, said Bennett.

“As it has happened through a lot of its history, the Russian Orthodox Church is allowing itself to be co-opted and is being co-opted by the state, the Russians, to advance Russia’s interests.”

A draft government plan would entrench discriminatory policies that deprive Rohingya Muslims in Burma of citizenship and lead to the forced resettlement of over 130,000 displaced Rohingya into closed camps, Human Rights Watch said today. Burma’s international donors, the United Nations, and other influential actors should press the government to substantively revise or rescind its Rakhine State Action Plan.

The plan follows the April 2013 recommendations of the Rakhine Investigative Commission, established by President Thein Sein after widespread killings and violence against Rohingya in 2012 in the state. The plan, a copy of which was obtained by Human Rights Watch, does not recognize the term Rohingya, referring throughout to “Bengalis,” an inaccurate and derogatory term commonly used by Burmese officials and nationalist Buddhists. Muslims are only mentioned in the plan with reference to religious schools.

“The long-awaited Rakhine State Action Plan both expands and solidifies the discriminatory and abusive Burmese government policies that underpin the decades-long persecution of the Rohingya,” said Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director. “It is nothing less than a blueprint for permanent segregation and statelessness that appears designed to strip the Rohingya of hope and force them to flee the country.”

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