Tag: UK

‘It’s time to be real: what happens in Iraq is ethnic cleansing’ – UK analyst

July 12, 2019 Iraq Genocide, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Minorities, Nineveh Plains, UK, UN, USA, Yazidis

Tahira Church in Qaraqosh, a Christian town in northern Iraq, shortly after liberation from Islamic State in November 2016. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

What Iraq’s Christians want from the West is to say the plain truth: that there is ethnic cleansing of Christians in the region and it is ongoing, Dr Tim Stanley told a meeting at the UK’s parliament last Tuesday, 9 July. The historian and columnist, working for UK daily newspaper . . . Read More

UK wants to build international coalition to address Christian persecution

January 30, 2019 Global News -- No Particular Country Human rights, Religious freedom, UK

The war in Syria not just heavily damaged churches like the Greek Orthodox church in the old quarter of Aleppo, it also shattered well-establlished Christian communities. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The United Kingdom wants to build an international coalition of countries to address the persecution of Christians around the world, its Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said at the launch of an independent review of the issue today, 30 January, in London. Hunt announced the initiative of an independent review into . . . Read More

UK parliamentary group calls out 27 countries for ‘significant’ religious freedom violations

December 10, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Ahmed Shaheed, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, China, Colombia, Egypt, Eritrea, Human rights, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tariq Ahmad, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UK, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

A church in Bartella, a town near the Iraqi city of Mosul, after Islamic State militants left the area in October 2016. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

A “Commentary on the Current State of Freedom of Religion or Belief” presented by a group of British parliamentarians today, 10 December, highlights 27 countries where people’s religious freedom has been denied and abused in the past year. The report, presented by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for International . . . Read More

UK government commits £12 million to championing religious freedom

November 9, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Alexandria, Bishop Angaelos, Copts, Easter, Egypt, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palm Sunday, Plateau, Religious freedom, UK

More than 20 people lost their lives in the Palm Sunday attack on the St George Cathedral in Tanta, Egypt.

The UK government has committed £12 million ($15.5 million) to championing freedom of religion of belief worldwide. The UK’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Lord Tariq Ahmad, said the money “will go a long way in bolstering the work of civil society and NGOs to promote respect, . . . Read More

EU told to strengthen mandate of religious freedom envoy

September 21, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Denmark, Europe, Jan Figel, Religious freedom, UK

The European Union needs to develop an overarching religious freedom policy strategy, and strengthening the mandate of the Special Envoy is an important step towards this, writes CSW’s Amy Shepherd for Brussels-based news site The European Post. The position of the Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) . . . Read More

Fall in Christian refugee admissions ‘suggests Trump has no real interest in religious persecution’

September 13, 2018 Global News -- No Particular Country Donald Trump, Genocide, Iraq, Jan Figel, Mike Pence, Minorities, Myanmar, Refugees, Syria, UK, UN, USA

Iraqi Christians who fled Islamic State have found shelter in a church yard in Erbil, Iraq. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

The United States, under President Trump, has admitted 40 per cent fewer Christian refugees in the past year, US broadcaster NBC News has reported. As the Trump administration has implemented stricter policies on immigration and refugees, almost 11,000 Christians looking for a safe place to go were reportedly refused entry to . . . 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

‘Christianity in Syria is under threat from forces the West is supporting’

June 11, 2018 Syria Bashar al-Assad, Civil War, Damascus, Free Syrian Army, Hezbollah, Human rights, Iran, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Maaloula, Middle East, Minorities, Russia, Salafism, Shia, Sunni, Syria, UK, USA

Two thousand years of Christianity in Syria could be wiped out by the very forces Western governments are supporting, an Anglican vicar has claimed. Rev. Andrew Ashdown, who has made ten trips to Syria since 2014 and is studying for a PhD in relations between Christians and Muslims there, also . . . Read More

Sudan: ‘Put brakes on’ normalising relations, rights groups tell US

May 16, 2018 Sudan Churches, Human rights, Religious freedom, Sahel, Sanctions, Sudan, Terrorism, UK, USA

A Sudan People's Liberation Movement rebel soldier in South Kordofan state where thousands of people fled the Nuba Mountains in 2012 to escape fighting between the rebel group and the government's armed forces. (Photo: ADRIANE OHANESIAN/AFP/GettyImages)

Rights groups have urged the United States to refrain from removing Sudan from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. “New circumstances have emerged in Sudan that make US efforts at full normalisation dramatically ill-timed,” said the Washington DC-based Enough Project in a recent report. The NGO, which focuses on . . . Read More

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