Burma’s president has approved a set of controversial draft religious laws inspired by radical Buddhist monks and sent them to parliament, reports the Japan Times, prompting rights groups to voice alarm over the divisive nature of the proposals. The draft legislation — including curbs on interfaith marriage, religious conversion and birth rates — will be…
The Bishop of Coventry asked Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the ability of members of the Baha’i community in Iran to bury their dead in accordance with the rituals of their faith. Foreign Office Minister Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con): The UK remains concerned over restrictions on freedom of religion in Iran….
Diane Corner, United Nations Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative and Deputy Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), is the special guest at this meeting, hosted by The All-Party Parliamentary Group on International Freedom of Religion or Belief, The All-Party Parliamentary Group on the African Great Lakes region and The Africa…
APPG Christians in Parliament and APPG International Freedom of Religion or Belief are hosting witness sessions for this inquiry in the Houses of Parliament: 2 December, 4pm-5.30pm, Committee Room 9 16 December, 4pm-5.30pm, Committee Room 19
House of Commons 2nd December 2014, written questions: David Simpson MP (Upper Bann) (DUP): To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Government is taking to promote religious respect and safety of Christians in the Central African Republic. Foreign Office Minister James Duddridge MP (Rochford and Southend East) (Con):…
Hundreds of Christians displaced by the Islamist insurgency in Nigeria’s North have been staging protests to express their anger over their government’s failure to protect them, reports World Watch Monitor. On 25 November at least 78 people were killed when two suicide bombers attacked a market in northern Nigeria’s Maiduguri, the capital of Borno State,…
David Burrowes MP (Enfield, Southgate) (Con) has had his question, regarding the extent to which Iran fulfils its obligations under Article 18 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, answered by Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood MP (Bournemouth East) (Con). Mr Ellwood stated that in 2013, President Rouhani of Iran had made a number…
About 200 people, described as extremist Islamists, attacked a Christian school in Bangladesh which welcomes children of all faiths, in response to local outrage prompted by rumours stating the school was forcing Muslim children to convert to Christianity. World Watch Monitor reports that the attack was on the morning of 5 November 5 at the…
Pope Francis met the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi on Monday this week, commencing the start of the Arab leader’s first European tour. The visit was the first between an Egyptian leader and a Pope in eight years, since before the Arab Spring which ultimately propelled the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohammed Morsi to power and the subsequent…
Jeremy Lefroy (Stafford) (Con): Christians and others are being murdered for their faith in Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan and many other countries. Elsewhere, it is a crime to believe anything other than what the state sanctions. Does my right hon. Friend agree that our United Kingdom stands, above all, for freedom of speech, thought and…