Elisa Van Ruiten, Gender Expert at Human Rights Without Frontiers International (HRWF), presented a paper on the intersection of women’s rights and freedom of religion or belief at the Women in Faith Roundtable, organised by the EU Office of the LDS Church on 24 January, 2018. Early, child, and forced marriage are forms of gender-based…
Lord Alton’s blog is headed A New Maoist Cultural Revolution Is About To Begin He highlights that the Golden Lampstand Church in Shanxi Province was destroyed this week by paramilitary police officers, according to local news reports and foreign activists, quoting reports from the New York Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph and Newsweek….
18 January 2018 – Question asked by Lord Suri: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Freedom of Religion and Belief, Article 18: From Rhetoric to Reality. The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon) (Con) My Lords,…
The 2018 Open Doors World Watch List report, launched in the UK Parliament today, highlights the significance of ‘the squeeze’, non-violent persecution, as a tool of oppression. The report states that Christians are experiencing devastating levels of violence. From widows in Nigeria whose husbands have been killed by Boko Haram fighters, to girls in Pakistan who have been…
In The House Magazine published 15 January, Baroness Berridge writes that “Around the world too many people are still living in fear of persecution for their beliefs. It’s time we matched our rhetoric with practical action,” This is the article in full: For those of us working to advance the importance of Article 18 of…
11 January 2018, Question for Short Debate, asked by The Lord Bishop of Coventry: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their post-conflict strategy for protecting the rights of religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq. The Lord Bishop of Coventry My Lords, imagine what it was like, having been hounded out of one’s home when Daesh…
Bob Blackman (Harrow East) (Con) (Urgent Question): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the death sentence verdict made against Hamed bin Haydara, a Yemeni Bahá’í, in Sana’a on 2 January this year. The Minister for Europe and the Americas (Sir Alan Duncan) We…
The Prime Minister‘s Christmas message highlighted the ongoing challenge of persecution and the threat to Freedom of Religion or Belief. She said “Let us remember those around the world today who have been denied those freedoms – from Christians in some parts of the Middle East to the sickening persecution of the Rohingya Muslims. And let…
On 13 December APPG stakeholder Open Doors launched its latest report in Parliament as part of its Hope for the Middle East campaign: What next for Syria and Iraq? The Enduring Relevance of the Church in the Middle East. The day before an Open Doors delegation – led by 12-year-old Noeh from Karamles, Iraq –…
Jim Shannon MP and Fiona Bruce MP hosted a meeting in the Palace of Westminster on 13 December designed to raise awareness about claims of forced organ harvesting from the religious group known as the Falun Gong. Over the past decade, reports have emerged which claim that the Chinese Government is killing religious prisoners of…