The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, an advisory council to Congress and the US President, has added Central African Republic, Egypt, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Syria and Vietnam to its list of countries where religious freedom is of particular concern. The Commissions new Annual Report says that “religious freedom abroad has been under serious and sustained assault” during the past year, and…
Myanmar’s recently adopted Race and Religion laws are attracting the attention of Amnesty International, the UN human rights experts and faith groups. The four bills, presented as encouraging the country’s way of life, regulate monogamy, religious conversion, interfaith marriage, and population control. Under the new laws individuals wanting to convert from a religion must notify a…
A United Nations Rapporteur has once again demanded that Myanmar authorities address the human rights situation in their country. Last Wednesday, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, called on state authorities to resolve challenges to the recently implemented democratic process. Lee stated “journalists are still being interrogated and…
Amnesty International and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) are calling for proposed new ‘race and religion’ laws in Myanmar to be scrapped, amid fears they could fuel discrimination and violence Amnesty fear the proposed laws could entrench already widespread discrimination and risk fuelling further violence against religious minorities. Under the four laws currently being debated in…
