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‘We are in a catastrophe’

September 23, 2016 Ban Ki-moon, Boko Haram, Cameroon, Chad, Diffa, Lake Chad, London, Mahamadou Issoufou, New York, Niger, Nigeria, Samuel Dali, Sub-Saharan Africa, UN

Leaders of Africa’s Lake Chad Basin countries affected by Boko Haram’s intensifying insurgency over the past two weeks are calling on the international community to act urgently against the region’s ongoing humanitarian “catastrophe”. Presidents Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria), Mahamadou Issoufou (Niger), Idriss Deby Itno (Chad) and Paul Biya (Cameroon) are scheduled . . . Read More

China tightens grip on religion

September 23, 2016 China Education, Sinicisation, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Xi Jinping, Zhejiang

The Chinese government has released a set of proposed amendments to its rules regulating religious affairs, as President Xi Jinping attempts to exert even greater control over how religion is practised. The new set of amendments, released to the public on 7 Sep. for a one-month consultation period, includes guidelines . . . Read More

Pakistan: Christian boy, 16, arrested for Kaaba ‘blasphemy’

September 20, 2016 Pakistan Blasphemy, Faisalabad, Gojra, Islamic extremism, Kasur, Lahore, Nabeel Masih, Pakistan Muslim League, Pentecostals

The boy is alleged to have "defamed" the Kaaba in Mecca

Nabeel Masih, 16, is alleged to have “defamed” the Kaaba in Mecca, the building at the centre of Islam’s most sacred mosque.Amalia Sari / Flickr / CC A 16-year-old Christian boy has been accused of committing blasphemy by “liking” and sharing a post on Facebook which “defamed and disrespected” . . . Read More

What does the inside of a refugee camp in Lebanon look like?

September 20, 2016 Lebanon IDPs, Islamic State, Lebanon, Migrants, Refugees, UN

A Syrian family outside their makeshift tent in a Lebanese refugee camp, August 2016

WWM

One in every 113 people on earth is a refugee, according to UN figures; yesterday at its General Assembly in the US, it adopted the New York Declaration aimed at reaching a more humane and coordinated approach to large movements of refugees and migrants. At the meeting, UN Secretary-General Ban . . . Read More

Freedom of religion or belief ‘the defining issue of our time’

September 16, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Angela Merkel, Boko Haram, Canada, Copts, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Jan Figel, Kandhamal, Myanmar, New York, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi, Syria

Over 100 parliamentarians from 60 countries met this week in Berlin for a series of workshops and seminars under the title, “An Embattled Right: Protecting and Promoting Freedom of Religion of Belief”. The second conference of this size after last year’s meeting in New York, it was organised by the . . . Read More

Hungary opens first ever office to tackle Christian persecution

September 16, 2016 Austria, Croatia, Europe, Hungary, Middle East, Poland, Viktor Orbán

As Europe’s leaders (minus the UK) meet in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, the voice of the Eastern bloc* leaders is being heard more, even if it’s not always comfortable listening for Brussels’ Eurocrats. This week, Hungary, which has during the past year come under pressure for its handling of Europe’s . . . Read More

Autonomous Nineveh ‘would preserve Christians and secure West’s interests’

September 14, 2016 Iraq Ankawa, Islamic State, Nineveh Plains

A “protected area” should be set aside for minorities, including Christians, in Iraq’s north-east Nineveh plains after the ‘Islamic State’ has been defeated, a US advocacy group has argued. The group, In Defense of Christians (IDC), made the suggestion at the National Convention (7-9 September) in Washington DC. IDC hopes . . . Read More

Turkmenistan: No change soon for religious minorities after Consitution amended

September 14, 2016 Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Islam Karimov, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Saparmurat Niyazov, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan

Turkmenistan has approved a constitutional amendment that will allow its President to rule for as long as he likes. Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has ruled Turkmenistan since 2006. His predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov, died while still in office at the age of 66 – he was President for 21 years, during which time . . . Read More

What next for India’s beleaguered Christian minority?

September 12, 2016 India Anti-conversion law, BJP, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Narendra Modi, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

Fifty religious leaders from the Christian and Muslim minorities in India met together last week to discuss the religious freedom challenges facing both groups under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Christians are “facing physical, symbolic and structural violence” from Hindu extremists across the country, said Father Z. Devasagaya Raj at . . . Read More

‘Part of our heart is missing’: parents of girl held by IS

September 9, 2016 Iraq Christina Abada, Islamic State, Qaraqosh, Trauma

Ayda relives that most horrible moment daily, even though it took place two years ago. During a ‘medical check-up’ in the north-eastern Iraqi town of Qaraqosh, militants from the ‘Islamic State’ took interest in her three-year-old daughter, Christina. Suddenly, they snatched the child out of her arms and gave the crying . . . Read More

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