Chris Philp MP has introduced his Westminster Hall debate today – watch it in full – by writing in PoliticsHome under the headline The systematic persecution of Christians is an international tragedy In April last year, a young Nigerian woman, Dorkas Zakka, was murdered along with 12 others in Kafanchan state simply for attending an Easter…
Ending blasphemy laws around the globe is ‘a priority for Government’, Foreign Office Minister of State for Human Rights Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon told a joint meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG), the All Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief and the All Party Parliamentary Human Rights Group….
The USCIRF 2018 Annual Report, released today, recommends 16 Countries be designated “Countries of Particular Concern” CPCs are governments that engage in or tolerate systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom. The 16 countries for CPC designation: 10 that the State Department so designated in December 2017—Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan,…
Lord Suri asked “What director level staffing changes, if any, the Government intend to make in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to provide greater capacity for that department to co-ordinate, oversee and deliver policy to advance freedom of religion and belief?” Watch the response and subsequent debate Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Religion Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)…
With the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) coming to London next week, Parliamentarians have been urging that Freedom of Religion or Belief is on the agenda and included in the final communique. Read more Leaders from 53 countries in the Commonwealth of Nations will meet in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and…
My heart goes out to all who this day, whatever their beliefs, are being persecuted on religious grounds. And at this time of Easter, when our minds are recalled to the suffering of Our Lord two thousand years ago, we think especially of those Christians who are suffering for their faith in many places around…
Yezidi women: ISIS survivors is the title of an exhibition presented in Parliament’s Upper Waiting Hall from 26-29 March. Artist Hannah Rose Thomas travelled last summer to Iraq, where she helped run art classes for Yezidi Women who had escaped ISIS captivity. The aim was to enable these women to share their stories through painting their self-portraits. More…
Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP) Last Sunday, thousands of Iraqi Christians and Yazidis walked through the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq to celebrate Palm Sunday. They have not done that for six years. That is welcome, as Iraqi Christians are one of the most persecuted religious groups in the world. All Christians celebrate Christ’s resurrection this…
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will be held in London in the week beginning 16 April. Parliament has been pressing the government on what should be raised, discussed and communicated during the meeting. Below is a summary of some of the issues around Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) that have been highlighted….
The Officers of the UK All Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief are deeply concerned about the escalation in communal violence towards Muslims by ‘ultra-nationalist’ Buddhists in Sri Lanka. On Tuesday 6 March, the Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency after a number of mosques, houses, shops and vehicles…