General

Libya: ‘a country where Christians shouldn’t come’

May 14, 2015 Libya Algeria, Ansar al-Sharia, Copts, Egypt, Islamic State, Libya, Migrants, Muammar Gaddafi, Refugees, Tripoli, Tunisia

Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya has been engulfed by conflicts between various coalitions of armed groups.Photo courtesy Open Doors International Migrants and refugees in Libya are increasingly facing widespread abuse and persecution on religious grounds, a report by Amnesty International has revealed. Foreign nationals travelling irregularly . . . Read More

Good news in Nigeria, but not for Chibok girls, yet

May 10, 2015 Nigeria Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Gwoza, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria

Some of the hundreds of people, mostly women and children, rescued from Boko Haram camps in Nigeria’s Sambisa Forest, in early May 2015.Photo courtesy Open Doors International The tide may have turned against Boko Haram, at least for the moment. Camps in the Sambisa forest – said to be . . . Read More

Vietnam’s Religion Law

May 8, 2015 Vietnam Catholics, Central Highlands, Churches, Communism, Human rights, Minorities, Religion Law, Religious freedom, UN, Vietnam

The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is drafting a “Law on Belief and Religion,” for passage in the National Assembly in 2016, and possibly this year. It is almost inevitable the new law will disappoint proponents of universal human rights.1 Diverse religions and religious practices flourish in communist Vietnam. Religious believers far . . . Read More

‘We are going through a terrible moment’

May 7, 2015 Syria Assyrians, Hasakah, Islamic State, Qamishli, Syria

Archimandrite Emanuel Youkhana leads prayers for the Hassaka, Syria Christians at a mass in the Assyrian Church of the East in Beirut on March 22, 2015.World Watch Monitor Danger levels rose sharply in late April for northeast Syria’s isolated Assyrian Christians, caught for nearly three months now between Kurdish . . . Read More

CAR warring factions devote a week to peace

May 6, 2015 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Catherine Samba-Panza, Seleka, UN

Delegates to a national reconciliation forum in Bangui, Central African Republic, stand for the official portrait. At front is the mediator, Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso (red tie), and CAR interim President Catherine Samba Panza (turquoise suit).World Watch Monitor A week-long attempt to reconcile warring elements in the Central . . . Read More

Christian journalists threatened in Pakistan

May 3, 2015 Pakistan Balochistan, Quetta

2014: A year of particular concern

April 30, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-balaka, Bashar al-Assad, BJP, Boko Haram, Central African Republic, Chibok girls, Chin, China, Egypt, Eritrea, Ghar Wapsi, Hindu nationalism, India, Iran, Iraq, Islamic State, Kachin, Kano, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Potiskum, Rohingya, Saudi Arabia, Seleka, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam

If ever there were a year that made plain the importance of religious freedom, 2014 was it, according to the just-released annual report by an American government advisory group. “By any measure, the horrors of the past year speak volumes about how and why religious freedom and the protection of the . . . Read More

Vietnam’s two faces

April 30, 2015 Vietnam Cambodia, Central Highlands, Dien Bien, Ho Chi Minh City, Montagnards, Nguyen Van Dai, Religious freedom, UN

n Vietnam’s paddy fields and distinctive rock formations are major attractions for tourists. Kristen Elsby / Getty Images As Vietnam celebrates 40 years since the end of what is commonly known elsewhere as the ‘Vietnam War’, its government faces accusations of failing to ensure the rights of its citizens . . . Read More

Nepal’s long-delayed transition to democracy worries its Christians

April 27, 2015 Nepal Burial, Constitution, Kathmandu, Maoists, Sushil Koirala

As Nepal struggles to respond to the massive earthquake and aftershocks during the weekend that left thousands dead, the world has offered aid to a country which is still one of the poorest and most isolated in Asia, despite its attractive image for mountaineers and Western backpackers. It’s still overcoming . . . Read More

Video mocking IS causes riots in Egypt

April 26, 2015 Egypt Blasphemy, Copts, Gad Younan, Islamic State

An April 17 ‘reconciliation meeting’ in Al-Nasriyah village in Upper Egypt, where Christians announce a local teacher, Gad Younan, will leave town and not return.World Watch Monitor When an Egyptian teacher filmed five Coptic Christian secondary school students impersonating terrorists from the so-called Islamic State, the boys could be . . . Read More

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