Tag: Canada

EU Envoy’s threat of trade sanctions played crucial role in Asia Bibi’s freedom

September 5, 2019 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Blasphemy, Canada, Europe, Human rights, Jan Figel, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti

EU Envoy on religious freedom, Jan Figel, meets with Asia Bibi's lawyer, Saif ul Malook in Lahore, December 2017. (Photo: Jan Figel)

Freed Pakistani Christian Aasiya Noreen, known to the world now as Asia Bibi, has pleaded for the many others like her accused of blasphemy who, she says, are still “lying in jail for years – their decisions should also be done on merit. The world should listen to them. “The . . . Read More

‘Only jihadists want to see Christians leave the Middle East’

August 6, 2018 Arab Spring, Arabs, Cairo, Canada, Churches, Egypt, Europe, Islamic extremism, Lebanon, Middle East, Migrants, Minorities, North Africa, Palestinian Territories, Refugees, Syria, USA

Around 300 Christians went to Bartella during the Easter weekend of 2017, to have the very first Easter celebration in three years in their home town. A convoy of about 15 buses travelled from Erbil, crossing several Kurdish and Iraqi army checkpoints to reach the church. The people still live in Erbil and cannot go back to Bartella to live or to rebuild. But for this day many take the chance to celebrate Easter in their own church again. (Open Doors International)

“The only people that want to see all Christians leave are some of the violent jihadists,” concludes a new book. “Everyone else, including some we might term as Islamists, desires their continued presence. They recognise that it is Christians who are the leaven that permeates the whole of society.” The . . . Read More

Failure to bring IS to justice shows UN genocide conventions ‘obsolete’

November 28, 2016 Canada, Europe, Genocide, International Criminal Court, Iraq, Islamic State, Middle East, Qaraqosh, Rwanda, Syria, UK, UN

The UN has broken the pledges it made in the aftermath of World War II to prevent genocide from recurring, said Ewelina Ochab.World Watch Monitor The UN must urgently put in place measures to hold to account jihadists who have committed atrocities against minorities in Iraq and Syria, because . . . Read More

Freedom of religion or belief ‘the defining issue of our time’

September 16, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Angela Merkel, Boko Haram, Canada, Copts, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic State, Jan Figel, Kandhamal, Myanmar, New York, North Korea, Norway, Pakistan, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Shahzad Masih, Shama Bibi, Syria

Over 100 parliamentarians from 60 countries met this week in Berlin for a series of workshops and seminars under the title, “An Embattled Right: Protecting and Promoting Freedom of Religion of Belief”. The second conference of this size after last year’s meeting in New York, it was organised by the . . . Read More

Existence of Eastern Churches ‘at risk’

August 4, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Canada, France, Islamic extremism, Jacques Hamel, Middle East, Quran, Religious freedom

Christians are now an “endangered species” in lands where their faith was first rooted, a prominent ancient church leader warned on 3 August. “The very existence of Eastern Churches, those Churches that come from the apostles’ time, is at stake,” said Patriarch Ignatius Joseph III Younan of the Syriac Catholic . . . Read More

Canada’s religious freedom conundrum

February 24, 2016 Andrew Bennett, Canada, Human rights, Religious freedom, USA

Should Western democracies make the defence of religious freedom around the world a separate, fenced-off part of their foreign policy? Or is it better simply to include that concern under the general heading of human rights? These are the questions asked by , as it watches with interest the developments . . . Read More

Uncertain future for Canada religious freedom post

February 17, 2016 Andrew Bennett, Canada, Europe, Human rights, Islamic State, Lord Alton, Minorities, Religious freedom, UK

Canada’s ambassador for religious freedom has had his contract extended for another month, but the post may still be abolished. Andrew Bennett became Canada’s first ambassador for religious freedom when he was appointed three years ago, but Canada’s new Foreign Affairs Minister, Stéphane Dion, said religious freedom should not be . . . Read More

UK in need of a Global Envoy for Religious Freedom

December 22, 2014 Andrew Bennett, Canada, Religious freedom, UK, USA

Writing for The Telegraph, British Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander said, “A future Labour Government would appoint a Global Envoy for Religious Freedom.” He said there is no time to waste and that the UK has fallen behind others, such as the US and Canada, that are showing stronger leadership; . . . Read More

All change again in the Middle East

July 7, 2013 Andrew Bennett, Baghdad, Bishop Angaelos, Cairo, Canada, Copts, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, London, Middle East, Muslim Brotherhood, Religious freedom, Saddam Hussein, Syria

Middle Eastern Christians are experiencing one of the most significant periods in their history, according to religious and political leaders meeting in London last week. Regime changes in Egypt and Iran, and sectarian violence in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, have presented an opportunity for the Christian minority to speak out, . . . Read More

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