Tag: Religious freedom

US envoy supports Sudan’s removal from ‘sponsors of terrorism’ list

July 10, 2018 Sudan North Korea, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, USA

US charge d'affaires in Sudan, Steven Koutsis, in the harbour of Port Sudan on the red sea coast, as a US ship is unloading humanitarian aid supplies provided by the US development agency, on 5 June 2018. (Photo: ASHRAF SHAZLY/AFP/Getty Images)

The US charge d’affaires in Khartoum has told Sudan that he will channel “all … energy and focus” into having Sudan removed from the US’s list of State Sponsors of Terrorism, reports AFP. Steven Koutsis, speaking during the 4 July celebration at the embassy in the Sudanese capital, welcomed Sudan’s . . . Read More

North Korea tells US to drop ‘anachronistic human rights racket’

July 9, 2018 North Korea Bibles, Donald Trump, Human rights, Kim Jong-Un, North Korea, Prisons, Religious freedom, Torture, USA

North Korea has called on the United States to stop its “anachronistic human rights racket” as talks continue between the two countries, AP reports. The US House of Representatives recently promised that “complete, verifiable, and irreversible human rights improvements” in North Korea were a necessary part of any deal, while . . . Read More

Laos: Law on associations ‘skewed to target religious minorities’

July 9, 2018 Laos Churches, Human rights, Laos, Religious freedom, Southeast Asia

Buddhists meeting in their temple in Laos are often exempt from meeting requirements under the Decree of Association. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A law that came into effect in Laos last November “has already been skewed to target religious minorities, especially in rural areas”, according to Mission Network News (MNN). The Decree on Associations requires all groups, whether religious or otherwise, to acquire government approval for holding meetings and other activities. It . . . Read More

Kazakhstan: 69 punished for practising faith in first half of 2018

July 5, 2018 Kazakhstan Baptists, Human rights, Jehovah's Witnesses, Kazakhstan, Kostanay, Missionaries, Pentecostals, Religion Law, Religious freedom, Sunni

Courts in Kazakhstan prosecuted at least 69 individuals, religious communities or organisations for religious activities in the first half of this year, according to Oslo-based news service Forum 18. Punishments included fines of up to four months’ average salary (US$1,400) and three-month bans on activities such as distributing religious literature or . . . 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

UK appoints religious freedom envoy

July 4, 2018 Human rights, Religious freedom, Tariq Ahmad, Theresa May, UK

The UK has appointed a Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief to “promote inter-faith respect and dialogue internationally”, according to a press release by the UK government. Following his appointment today, Lord Tariq Ahmad, who is also Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the UN at the . . . Read More

Iraqi archbishop tells USAID delegation to hurry up aid delivery

July 4, 2018 Iraq Bashar Warda, Donald Trump, Erbil, Iraq, Islamic State, Kurds, Louis Raphael I Sako, Middle East, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Religious freedom, Sunni, USA, Yazidis

An Iraqi Catholic archbishop has said he and other bishops are “delighted” that the US aid arm is to make good on a pledge to send aid directly to non-Muslim communities recovering from ISIS’s occupation of their towns and villages, but warned “time is running [out]”. Archbishop Bashar Warda of . . . Read More

Reconciliation with Ethiopia could improve human rights in Eritrea – UN rapporteur

July 2, 2018 Eritrea Abiy Ahmed, Churches, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Human rights, Prisons, Religious freedom, UN

As relations between Ethiopia and its neighbour Eritrea show signs of improvement, the UN’s rapporteur on human rights in Eritrea has called for the momentum to be used to improve human rights conditions in the country. “While peace is being negotiated, while rapprochement is happening, one would make sure that . . . Read More

Pakistan’s new cardinal says government unable to stop religious extremism

June 29, 2018 Pakistan Asylum seekers, Blasphemy, Constitution, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Islamic extremism, Karachi, Minorities, Pakistan, Religious freedom

Newly-appointed Pakistani Cardinal Joseph Coutts during a courtesy visit of relatives following the ceremony for the creation of new cardinals at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican on 28 June. (Photo: TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images)

Pakistan’s first cardinal in nearly a quarter of a century says his country’s government is unable to control Islamic extremism. “Our government is not strong enough to control the kind of extremism that has developed in the country,” Joseph Coutts, Archbishop of Karachi since 2012, said, adding: “It is enough to accuse . . . Read More

Religious freedom ‘essential goal’ in normalising relations with Sudan – US commission

June 28, 2018 Sudan Churches, Darfur, Human rights, Khartoum, Minorities, Religious freedom, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, USA

While church properties were returned to the SCOC, other church bodies like SPEC are also in conflict with the government over the ownership of their properties in Bahri (Khartoum North) and Omdurman. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A new report highlights the lack of religious freedom in Sudan and says improvements in this area remain “an essential goal” for the US before relations between the two countries can be fully normalised. A delegation from the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent, bipartisan advisory body, . . . Read More

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