Posts tagged human rights
New Report Spotlights Immigration Struggle For Persecuted Christians

The nonpartisan groups reported the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers the U.S. has accepted in recent decades, including Christians and others fleeing religious persecution, and explored how U.S. presidential platform policies will impact the ability of those persecuted for their faith to find refuge here after the November elections.

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Taliban’s New ‘Vice And Virtue’ Law Erases Women

(ANALYSIS) Afghanistan’s new “vice and viture” law seeks to completely silence women in public. They are prohibited from speaking, singing or praying aloud. The law also attempts to literally erase them from view, ordering women to cover every part of their body and face in public.

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In Fight Against Leprosy, A Catholic Center In Zimbabwe Offers Help

Zimbabwe’s Mutemwa Leprosy Care Centre is home to 34 patients living with deadly diseases, such as AIDS, as well as mental and physical disabilities. The center is supported by the John Bradburne Memorial Society, founded in memory of the British-born missionary. Bradburne's legacy lives on in this embattled community to this day.

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Meryl Streep Says A Female Cat In Kabul ‘Has More Freedom Than A Woman’

(ANALYSIS) On Sept. 23, 2024, when speaking at a side event on “The Inclusion of Women in the Future of Afghanistan” at the U.N. General Assembly, Oscar-winning actress and activist Meryl Streep addressed the dire situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. As she noted, “Today in Kabul a female cat has more freedom than a woman.”

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Harris Favors Eliminating The Filibuster To Codify Abortion Rights

Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris told an interviewer Tuesday (Sept. 24) that she would be in favor of eliminating the filibuster for votes on abortion-related legislation in the Senate. Harris has made abortion a centerpiece of her campaign, pledging to sign any bill that “restore[s] reproductive freedom nationwide,” according to her website.

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The Focus On ‘Religious Freedom For All’ And The Main Sources Of Persecution

(REVIEW) Most people working in recent decades in America’s growing movement for international religious freedom are little-known except by those personally involved activists and academics. One whose name and work has generally not been recognized outside these circles is Knox Thames. This is principally because he has worked close to the heart of things, usually in government circles.

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Afghan Hazara Woman Defying The Taliban To Win Bronze At The Paralympics

(ANALYSIS) Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, women and girls have been banned from playing sports or participating in any form of physical activity. However, Afghan women have been defying the Taliban and competed at the 2024 Olympics and 2024 Paralympic, while flying the flag of the Refugee Olympic and Paralympic teams.

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Taliban’s Legacy Includes Gender Apartheid And Genocide

(ANALYSIS) The legacy of the Taliban regime — which meant to be a new Taliban 2.0 but failed on all fronts — is gender apartheid, genocide and gross human rights violations. The three years of their reign, since the fall of Kabul on Aug. 15, 2021, have been filled with report after report documenting the litany of atrocities perpetrated in the country.

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Zimbabwean Community And Jesuits Clash Over Ancestral Land

Local residents and the Catholic order have engaged in a years-long court battle after the church tried to evict them from their ancestral land on the outskirts of the capital Harare. The more than 1,000 families, however, were relieved when a court agreed to halt, for now, a move by the Jesuits to evict them from their land that the church wants to turn into an urban residential area.

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Jimmy Lai’s Trial Under National Security Law Delayed Yet Again

(ANALYSIS) On July 25, a Hong Kong court dismissed Jimmy Lai’s defense’s mid-trial submission of “no case to answer” and adjourned the trial for four months until the end of November 2024, when Lai is expected to give evidence.

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Equatorial Guinea’s Decree Forcing Worship Registration Threatens Religious Freedom

Equatorial Guinea has a history of infringing on religious freedom dating back to the 1950s. The country is at it again using legislation to forcefully close numerous churches and deny thousands the freedom to worship. Six Pentecostal and evangelical churches were shut down by the government last year alone due to their failure to abide by registration regulations.

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Argentine Court Orders Investigation Into The Uyghur Genocide

(ANALYSIS) On July 11, 2024, the Argentine Federal Court of Criminal Cassation handed down its decision in a case concerning the issue of Uyghur genocide ordering the prosecutor to open an investigation. The decision follows a criminal complaint setting out the international crimes committed against the Uyghur and other Turkic people in Xinjiang, China, and the identity of those most responsible for these crimes.

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The Roots Of The Prejudice That Fueled The Yezidi Genocide Went Much Deeper

(ANALYSIS) On the morning of Aug. 3, 2014, the Islamic State group launched a ruthless and swift campaign in Sinjar, in northwestern Iraq. The target was Yezidis: a monotheistic religious group whose members have long been persecuted. What explains the ferocity of this genocidal campaign?

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Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit: Advocates Spotlight Growing Global Tensions

The theme of the conference, which took place at the school’s campus in South Bend, Indiana, was “Depolarizing Religious Liberty,” which still depends too much on one's race, faith or nationality. The highlight of the summit was an awards program and gala where the Religious Liberty Clinic was named after Lindsay and Matt Morun, who have supported such efforts financially since its inception.

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How Faith-Based Projects Are Helping To Stem Africa’s Growing Eco-Anxiety

As the effects of climate change become more apparent in Africa and in other parts of the world, eco-anxiety is becoming prevalent. This is true especially in Africa, a continent that is home to a disproportionate share of climate change-related disasters but also has limited resources to deal with them.

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Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Calls For Global ‘Interfaith Collaboration’

Indonesia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Retno Marsudi officially opened on Wednesday the two-day International Conference on Cross-Cultural Religious Literacy aimed at encouraging dialogue between different faith traditions. The conference hopes to strengthen the country’s respect for religious pluralism, while also addressing a variety of topics for reaching out to other faiths through education programs and human rights legislation.

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‘Dignity Of Marginalized Groups’: Dr. Nina Balmaceda’s Faith-Based Peace Solutions

Dr. Nina Balmaceda recently finished a project focused on uncovering the story of Peace and Hope International over its first 25 years, emphasizing the spiritual dimensions of social and political renewal in Latin America. Her research has focused on the organization's spiritual understanding of love — deeply rooted in its Christian tradition — through political and social responsibility.

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Special Report: India Using AI To Target Religious And Ethnic Minorities

India’s increased use of Facial Recognition Technology has led to the arrest of those the government deemed “troublemakers” for their involvement in recent protests. It was not the first time video technology had been used to identify people taking part in such activity against the government. As a result, there’s the potential on the part of police to increasingly target religious minorities.

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Christian Women Punished For Praying In Nicaraguan Prisons

Christian women wrongfully imprisoned in Nicaragua have been beaten and denied time outdoors for praying aloud with rosaries, Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported on March 6.

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