Tag: Religious freedom

UAE an ‘oasis of freedom’ for foreign Christians

September 12, 2018 United Arab Emirates Arabian Peninsula, Churches, Dubai, Religious freedom, United Arab Emirates

Dubai has a number of thriving churches. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

For foreign Christians, the United Arab Emirates is an “oasis of freedom” compared to other countries in the Middle East, says a member of a thriving Dubai church. Mack Stiles is part of the United Christian Church of Dubai (UCCD), which in the last eight years has grown from one . . . Read More

Myanmar: Peace talks for settling conflict with majority-Christian ethnic groups

September 10, 2018 Myanmar Buddhist nationalism, Cardinal Bo, Chin, Kachin, Minorities, Myanmar, Religious freedom

Myanmar’s Peace Commission has held a meeting in China with the representatives of three ethnic armed groups fighting the Myanmar Armed Forces along the country’s northern border, AsiaNews reports. The Ta’ang National Liberation Army, Arakan Army and Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army are part of the Northern Alliance, which also . . . Read More

EU should ‘put people of the world’ first in quest for religious freedom – report

September 6, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Anti-conversion law, Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Europe, India, Jan Figel, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom

Members of the European Parliament (EP) have called on the EU to “put the people of the world before our financial and political interests”, in a report about religious freedom. The Annual Report on Freedom of Religion or Belief 2017, presented by the EP Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or . . . Read More

China ‘uses legal tactics to suppress religious freedom’, says rights agency

September 5, 2018 China Beijing, China, House churches, Religious freedom

People leaving the church after a service in Shenyang, north-eastern Dongguang province. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

China’s churches are experiencing the worst persecution in 40 years, with a government which uses “non-religious reasons” and civil law to close houses of worship, according to the US-based St Charles Institute. Pressure is applied “through opaque queries of fire-protection measures, by questioning the legality of printed materials used by the . . . Read More

Having human rights in Kazakhstan depends on state permission – report

September 5, 2018 Kazakhstan Children, Human rights, Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Proselytism, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Women

The Presidential Palace, the official work place of Kazakhstan's president, in the capital Astana. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Kazakhstan tries to make the “exercising of human rights conditional on state permission”, says the Oslo-based news service Forum 18. “[Kazakhstan] systematically violates intertwined fundamental rights – such as the freedoms of religion or belief, of expression and of assembly” when it has international obligations to respect and defend these, . . . Read More

Thailand called to release detained Vietnamese Montagnard refugees

September 3, 2018 Asylum seekers, Cambodia, Children, Hmong, Minorities, Montagnards, Refugees, Religious freedom, Thailand, Vietnam

The Montagnard-people are persecuted because of their faith but getting asylum in neighbouring countries is difficult. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Thailand should release the group of ethnic minority refugees and asylum seekers, mostly Christians, arrested last week during a crackdown just outside the capital Bangkok, rights groups say. Most of the 181 refugees detained are Montagnards, an indigenous group from Vietnam who face “harsh persecution if they are returned to . . . Read More

China has transformed Xinjiang into a ‘mass detention camp’ – UN

September 3, 2018 China Children, China, Prisons, Religious freedom, Terrorism, Uyghurs, Xinjiang

China's government has had an "anti terror" campaign in majority-Muslim Xinjiang region - meaning increased surveillance, arrests and detention. (Photo: JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/Getty Images)

The United Nations has raised alarm over the tens of thousands of Uyghur Muslims being held in detention centres in Xinjiang, northwest China. In a report last Thursday, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination said the Chinese government had “transformed the autonomous region of the Uyghurs into . . . Read More

‘Disappeared’ lawyer receives award for dedication to China’s religious freedom

August 31, 2018 China China, Gao Zhisheng, Human rights, Minorities, Religious freedom

A Chinese human rights lawyer who fell foul of the authorities for his support of oppressed communities, including Christians, was awarded the Shahbaz Bhatti Freedom Award on 29 August, the Epoch Times reports. The whereabouts of the lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, have not been publicly known since August 2017, so the . . . Read More

Amnesty launches writing campaign for release of four Iranian Christians

August 24, 2018 Iran Amin Afshar Naderi, Hadi Asgari, Iran, Ramil Bet-Tamraz, Religious freedom, Shamiram Isavi Khabizeh, Victor Bet-Tamraz

From left: Victor Bet-Tamraz, Amin Afshar-Naderi, another fellow prisoner Kaviyan Fallah-Mohammadi, and Hadi Asgari.

Amnesty International has called for the release of four Iranians sentenced to a combined total of 45 years in prison “solely for practising their Christian faith”. Its report calls for urgent action from the Iranian government to “quash the convictions and sentences of Victor Bet-Tamraz, Shamiram Isavi, Amin Afshar-Naderi, and . . . Read More

Religious freedom violations in Asia increasing – UN rapporteur

August 24, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Ahmed Shaheed, Asia, Hindu nationalism, Human rights, India, Islamic State, Maldives, Minorities, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia

Pakistani Christians experience an increase in violence such as a suicide attack on the Bethel Methodist Church in Quetta in December last year that killed more than ten and injured dozens of people. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Religious freedom in Asia is “eroding”, with an increase in religious fundamentalism across much of the continent, according to the UN’s religious freedom rapporteur Ahmed Shaheed. Shaheed spoke during an event, hosted by the Foreign Correspondents Club in Thailand’s capital Bangkok, on the back of the 4th Southeast Asia Freedom of Religion or Belief Conference. “Freedom . . . Read More

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