Nobel Peace Prize for two campaigners against rape as weapon of war

Nobel Peace Prize for two campaigners against rape as weapon of war
The Congolese physician Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, a Yazidi, have been announced as the winners of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict”. “Denis Mukwege is the helper who has devoted his life . . . Read More

Religious freedom a prerequisite for sustainable development, expert says

Poverty cannot be eradicated through government intervention alone but it needs the help of "innovative faith-based initiatives", says Brian Grim. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)
As half a million people in 900 cities around the world campaign today for “sustainable” development goals, Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom and Business Foundation, argues that this cannot be achieved without religious freedom. “There is a strong and positive relationship between religious freedom and sustainable development as . . . Read More

Attacks against Copts ‘among deadliest acts of religious persecution’ – report

This is one of the fifty five photos that is part of the photo story "Renewed day by day," commissioned by World Watch Monitor, exploring the extensive damage to churches in Egypt's Minya region that took place in late August 2013.
Attacks by members of the Islamic State group against Egypt’s Coptic Christian community “were among the deadliest acts of religious persecution” last year, according a new report presented in Washington DC yesterday, 13 September. “Fifty-three per cent of ISIS attacks against the public in 2017 were aimed at the Coptic . . . Read More

Family of murdered Pakistani Christian MP open training centre for women

The memorial to Shahbaz Bhatti, which marks the location of his assassination. Islamabad, Pakistan.
The family of the murdered Catholic MP Shahbaz Bhatti is opening an education centre for Christian women and girls in Khushpur, eastern Pakistan, reports AsiaNews Khushpur, near Faisalabad in Punjab province, is the largest Christian settlement in Pakistan and the area where the former minister for minorities came from and . . . Read More

Having human rights in Kazakhstan depends on state permission – report

The Presidential Palace, the official work place of Kazakhstan's president, in the capital Astana. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)
Kazakhstan tries to make the “exercising of human rights conditional on state permission”, says the Oslo-based news service Forum 18. “[Kazakhstan] systematically violates intertwined fundamental rights – such as the freedoms of religion or belief, of expression and of assembly” when it has international obligations to respect and defend these, . . . Read More