Tag: UN

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

Nicaragua: Christians attacked, detained and killed as ‘enemies of the regime’

September 6, 2018 Catholics, Corruption, Daniel Ortega, Latin America, Managua, Nicaragua, UN

More violence erupted during another anti-government protest in the capital Managua on Sunday (2 September) in which at least three people were injured. (Photo: INTI OCON/AFP/Getty Images)

Nicaragua’s president ordered a UN commission to leave the country on 1 September after it criticised the government for alleged human rights abuses committed during its clampdown on anti-government protestors. In its report, the UN Commission on Human Rights “called on the government to stop the persecution of protestors and . . . Read More

Myanmar’s blocking of aid to Kachin ‘may amount to war crime’ – report

August 31, 2018 Myanmar IDPs, Kachin, Karen, Myanmar, Refugees, Rohingya, Southeast Asia, UN

An elderly Kachin woman looks for shelter after fleeing fighting between Myanmar's army and Kachin rebels in December 2011. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

Myanmar has blocked humanitarian aid to tens of thousands of forcibly displaced people in the ongoing war in northern Kachin state – for over seven years – says humanitarian group Fortify Rights in a new report. “Consecutive governments and the military have wilfully obstructed local and international aid groups, denying . . . Read More

Nigeria denies paying ransom for Dapchi girls’ release from Boko Haram

August 20, 2018 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Dapchi, Fulani herdsmen, Nigeria, UN

Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen have between them claimed at least 26,000 lives in northeast Nigeria since 2009, says the UN, as Nigerian newspaper This Day reports. According to a UN representative in Nigeria, civilians continue to bear the brunt of the conflict, through widespread displacement, abuse and violations of . . . Read More

Afghan convert to Christianity flees, but persecution follows him

August 2, 2018 Afghanistan, Converts, Delhi, India, Kabul, Minorities, Refugees, Taliban, UN

An Indian newspaper has highlighted the story of an Afghan convert to Christianity who fled Afghanistan on account of the persecution he received for his faith, only to find that it followed him to India. “AP”, a man in his 60s who arrived in India three years ago, now lives . . . Read More

‘He will never be the same person he was’ – Brunson’s daughter

July 27, 2018 Turkey Andrew Brunson, Coup, Fethullah Gülen, PKK, Turkey, UN, USA

The day before the American pastor Andrew Brunson was transferred from prison to house arrest, his daughter gave an emotional speech at the US State Department’s Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington, DC, The Christian Post reports. Jacqueline Furnari, who last saw her father in August 2017, said she had . . . 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

Central African Republic in mourning again as another priest killed

July 4, 2018 Central African Republic Anti-balaka, Bambari, Bangui, Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadéra, Seleka, UN, UPC

The Catholic Church in the Central African Republic is again in shock after the killing of the vicar general of Bambari, in the centre of the country, on Friday night. Father Firmin Gbagoua, 52, was fatally wounded, when unidentified gunmen stormed the presbytery of St. Joseph’s Cathedral of Bambari at . . . 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

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