Tag: Minorities

‘When religious freedom is protected, women’s rights are strengthened’ – US ambassador

August 1, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Human rights, Islamic State, Minorities, Myanmar, Rape, Religious freedom, Rohingya, Women

There is a strong link between religious freedom and the facilitation of women’s rights, according to the US Ambassador to the Vatican, Callista Gingrich. In an article for Fox News, Gingrich argues that “when religious freedom is protected, women’s rights are strengthened and societies flourish”. “Female victims of religious discrimination . . . Read More

Indonesia’s religious minorities protest against closure of worship places

August 1, 2018 Indonesia Banten, Bekasi, Bogor, Catholics, Churches, GKI Yasmin, HKBP Filadelfia, Indonesia, Java, Minorities, Tangerang

Indonesian Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims gathered together in West Java over the weekend to protest against the closure of several of their places of worship, Catholic news agency UCAN reports. Over 100 people took part in a range of events, including the sharing of personal stories of discrimination. The participants . . . Read More

Sri Lankan Christian: ‘They took everything from us’

July 31, 2018 Sri Lanka Converts, Minorities, Sri Lanka

This is the story of a Sri Lankan brickmaker who received death threats after his conversion to Christianity, which is often seen as a “foreign” religion, even though it arrived in the Indian sub-continent almost two thousand years ago. Nimal is illiterate, but attended Bible school. He says when he talks . . . Read More

Malaysia’s new chief justice is a Catholic

July 16, 2018 Malaysia Borneo, Malaysia, Minorities, Raymond Koh, Sabah

The Palace of Justice in Putrajaya, Malaysia. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A Catholic has been appointed as the new chief justice in majority-Muslim Malaysia, reports the Catholic news agency UCAN. The appointment of Richard Malanjum, 65, from Sabah state on the predominantly Christian island of Borneo, follows elections in May in which the Barisan Nasional coalition government was ousted. It “signifies . . . Read More

‘Total impunity’ in India, as Muslims and Christians ‘bear brunt of ruling ideology’

July 13, 2018 India Anti-conversion law, Hindu Munnani, Hindu nationalism, Hindu Yuva Vahini, India, Jharkhand, Minorities, Pentecostals, Rape, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh

Frequent reports of violent attacks against India’s religious minorities show the “total impunity” enjoyed by their Hindu nationalist attackers, says one civil rights activist. In one recent attack, a pastor, his wife and their congregation were attacked at their ‘house church’ in India’s southern Tamil Nadu state on Sunday (8 . . . Read More

Myanmar: Peace talks resume but ethnic autonomy not on the agenda

July 12, 2018 Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi, Chin, China, Churches, Human rights, Kachin, Karen, Ma Ba Tha, Minorities, Myanmar, Myitkyina, Panglong, Rakhine, Rohingya, Sanctions, Tatmadaw

Myanmar's defacto leader Aung San Suu Kyi leaves the 2016 Panglong Conference. (Photo: AUNG HTET/AFP/Getty Images)

A third round of peace talks are taking place in Myanmar this week between armed ethnic groups and government forces, but the military has ruled out discussions on the autonomy that ethnic groups crave. The six-day meeting, which has been dubbed the 21st century ‘Panglong Conference’ after the historic 1947 . . . Read More

BJP responsible for most hate speech in India, study finds

July 11, 2018 India Bihar, BJP, Caste, Hindu nationalism, India, Minorities, Mumbai, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh

The north-eastern Indian state of Bihar leads the way for hate speech in India, according to a new study published by Telegraph India. Law students from three different universities in Patna, Dehradun and New Delhi used media reports between 2014-2018 to examine the use of hate speech in the country. They . . . Read More

Blasphemers should be put to death, says one Pakistan party as elections near

July 11, 2018 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Elections, Islamabad, Lahore, Minorities, Mumtaz Qadri, Pakistan, Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan

Ahead of Pakistan’s general elections later this month, the newly established Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party is gaining traction with its anti-blasphemy agenda, Al-Jazeera reports. The party calls for blasphemers against Islam to be put to death and for those who kill alleged blasphemers to be celebrated. Its election posters often . . . Read More

Attack on seven Iranian Christians exposes religious minorities’ ‘extreme vulnerability’ in refugee camps

July 10, 2018 Converts, Greece, Iran, Minorities, Refugees, Religious freedom, Switzerland, UN

Refugee camps in Greece are "microcosms of the Middle East with all the same ethnic and religious tensions" which are being intensified here, causing violence. (Photo: Photo by Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images)

Five Christian converts and two children from Iran were attacked last month in a refugee camp in Greece and told to leave as “this is a Muslim camp”. Following the incident, which took place on Sunday 24 June in a camp near the city of Larissa, about 360km northwest of . . . Read More

Call for UN to establish International Day for victims of religious persecution

July 5, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Bashiqa, Genocide, Islamic State, Minorities, Religious freedom, Tariq Ahmad, UK, UN, Yazidis

The United Nations should establish an International Day Commemorating the Victims and Survivors of Religious Persecution, say parliamentarians in the United Kingdom. The proposed annual day should be on 3 August, “being the day when Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ISIS] unleashed its genocidal campaign against the Yazidis in Sinjar, . . . Read More

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