Tag: Children

Universal Children’s Day: Kidnapped Christina receives letter from German namesake

November 20, 2017 Iraq Ankawa, Children, Christina Abada, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Mosul, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Five-year-old Christina, shortly after she was reunited with her family, including mother Ayda in the back. (Twitter @thestevennabil)

When German teenager Christina learned that a three-year-old girl with the same name from Qaraqosh, Iraq, had been abducted by Islamic State militants in August 2014, she started praying. A few months ago she heard the news of Christina’s release and decided to write a letter to the little girl, . . . Read More

Catholic teachers warn against India’s attempts to ‘saffronise’ education

November 20, 2017 India Children, Education, Hindu nationalism, India, Madhya Pradesh

Catholic school teachers in India have warned against “subtle attempts” by the government to “saffronise” – or make more Hindu – the education system. Dr. George Thadathil, a headteacher moderating an event in Kolkata last week titled ‘Future of Christian Higher Education and Contemporary Transitions in India’, said Christians “have . . . Read More

First Christian school to open in Iraq since 1970s

November 9, 2017 Iraq Basra, Chaldeans, Children, Iraq

Iraq has given permission for the first new Christian school to open in the country since 1974, when education was nationalised, reports Asia News. The Catholic primary school will open in September 2018 in Basra, near the country’s Gulf coast. Chaldean Archbishop of Basra, Alhava Habib Jajou, said he hopes . . . Read More

Cameroon: 6 siblings kidnapped by Boko Haram escape to safety

October 31, 2017 Cameroon Boko Haram, Cameroon, Children, Far North, Nigeria

Six siblings kidnapped from Moskota in the Far North region of Cameroon on 17 August have been found near the border with Nigeria by a group of vigilantes. A local source told World Watch Monitor that the children, between the ages of three and 15, had been taken to Nigeria, . . . Read More

Indonesia: ‘zero flexibility’ for adoptions by religious minorities

October 27, 2017 Indonesia Bekasi, Blasphemy, Children, Indonesia, Religious freedom, Santa Clara, Sumatra

Religious minorities in Indonesia are discriminated against when they want to adopt, according to Human Rights Watch’s report, which highlights the case of a Christian policewoman from North Sumatra. Ida Maharani Hutagaol, took a month-old boy, found abandoned in a ditch in Binjal, to hospital and ensured he was well cared for. In . . . Read More

Saudi schoolbooks ‘teach students to hate those of other faiths’

September 18, 2017 Saudi Arabia Children, Education, Islamic extremism, Saudi Arabia, Sunni, USA

The Imam Turki Bin Abdullah Grand mosque in the capital Riyadh. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Students in Saudi Arabia’s schools receive religious education that “contains hateful and incendiary language” towards other Islamic traditions than Sunni Islam, and severe criticism of Jews, Christians and people of other faiths, a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says. The comprehensive review of schoolbooks for religious studies for the 2016-17 . . . Read More

Eritrean Christian mother’s ‘isolation’ after church-leader husband imprisoned

September 15, 2017 Eritrea Children, East Africa, Eritrea, Pentecostals, Women

World Watch Monitor reported a month ago how a mother of three, Fikadu Debesay, died in a desert camp where she had been imprisoned together with her husband. Their crime? Belonging to a non-sanctioned church in Eritrea. Like Debesay, Ruth is in her late 30s, has three children, and although not . . . Read More

China passes new religious regulations ‘to prevent extremism’

September 8, 2017 China Children, China, Communism, Islamic extremism, Sinicisation, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Xi Jinping

China has passed a new set of rules regulating religious affairs, a year after the proposed amendments were released to the public for the first time. The new rules, announced yesterday, show no significant alterations to last year’s proposals, though there is noticeably less detail given regarding those who will be . . . Read More

China bans children – and their teachers – from churches

September 8, 2017 China Children, China, Communism, Fujian, Henan, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Three-Self Patriotic Movement, Wenzhou, Zhejiang

Unofficial estimates say that there are close to 100 million Christians in China, more than are members of its Communist Party, due to hold its 19th five-yearly National Congress in mid-October. But in several provinces, children were banned from attending Christian camps over the summer holidays while notices were issued . . . Read More

Christian children in Iran told: ‘study Islam or leave school’

September 8, 2017 Iran Children, Church of Iran, Ebrahim Firouzi, Eskander Rezaie, Iran, Islamic extremism, Karaj, Maryam Naghash Zargaran, Mohammad Reza Omidi, Rasht, Saheb Fadaie, Shiraz, Soroush Saraei, Yasser Mossayebzadeh, Youcef Nadarkhani

Christian children in two large Iranian cities have been told to either study Shia Islam or leave school. The children are members of the non-Trinitarian ‘Church of Iran’ denomination in the northern city of Rasht, near the Caspian Sea, and the historical southern city of Shiraz, respectively. Until recently the . . . Read More

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