Knox Thames writes on a blog on MENASource: “The quagmires of Syria and Iraq have forced millions to flee, both internally displaced people and new refugees escaping across borders. The international community is failing to meet their needs, with UN agencies announcing cuts in food programs due to a lack of funds. Ethnic and religious…
At a Parliamentary meeting yesterday the All Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief – officers, members and stakeholders – highlighted their determination to fight for freedom of religion or belief around the world. The All Party Group is genuinely all party – its officers are cross benchers, Conservative, Labour, SNP and…
Rev. Gerald Ragan wrote a guest column in The Augusta Chronicle on Saturday under this heading, inviting his readers to join him in an act of solidarity on Thursday. Here’s the column in full: Even before ISIS launched its ultra-violent campaign targeting Iraqi Christians in the summer of 2014, Pope Francis proclaimed that the current…
His Grace Bishop Angaelos, General Bishop of the Coptic Orthodox Church in the United Kingdom will be conferred the honour of Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to International Religious Freedom by Her Majesty The Queen as announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List, published in the London Gazette on 13…
The Government of Eritrea is responsible for systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations that have created a climate of fear in which dissent is stifled, a large proportion of the population is subjected to forced labour and imprisonment, and hundreds of thousands of refugees have fled the country, according to a UN report released…
An opinion piece in the South Asia Channel of Foreign Policy urges the US to designate Pakistan a Country of Particular Concern. It includes a devastating summary of the reality for minorities in Pakistan, and concludes “Unless the Pakistani state, civilian and military, puts all its efforts into reforming laws to provide equality and protection…
The U.S. Senate has unanimously passed an amendment calling on the government to weigh a nation’s religious freedom picture when conducting trade deals. “We believe every person should have protection of the government to live (his) faith, not the compulsion of government to practice any one faith or to be forced to reject all faith altogether,”…
Taslima Nasrin’s relocation comes after three well-known atheists, Avijit Roy, Washiqur Rahman and Ananta Bijoy Das, were murdered in Bangladesh this year in the course of three months, Religion News reports. Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent has claimed responsibility for the brutal murder of Das and has sent threatening messages to Nasrin. Nasrin’s move was…
The European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance launched their 2014 Report this month, saying still not enough is being done by European institutions around Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “Unfortunately, we can only conclude that violations of freedom of religion or belief have become more frequent and…
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years of imprisonment on blogger Raif Badawi, despite a foreign outcry, reports the BBC. Speaking from Canada, his wife Ensaf Haidar told the BBC she feared his punishment would start again on Friday. Badawi was arrested in 2012 for “insulting Islam through…