Asia – Page 28 – FoRB in Full

India: A rude awakening in an election year

Posted on 30/04/201924/06/2021 by cswpress in Asia, India

Dr Shashi Tharoor, the former Under Secretary-General of the United Nations, once described Narendra Modi as a paradoxical Prime Minister who says one thing and does another.

Coming into power in 2014 on egalitarian slogans like “ache din aane wale hain” (good days are coming) and “sabka saath, sabka vikas” (togetherness with all and development for all), Modi appealed to the corporate and middle class groups who were already beginning to resent the Congress Party, which was plagued with a series of corruption scandals. Posturing as the “development visionary” while presiding as Gujarat’s Chief Minister (2001-2014), he was fielded as the best candidate who could fix India’s decaying economy and good governance.

This clearly was not the case, as the reckless almost overnight demonetization had a drastic impact, particularly on lower income groups.

The promise of good days is far from being realised. For the religious minorities that make up approximately 16.3% of the population the last five years have been anything but favourable.

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India’s general election: The church in Jharkhand under direct attack by the state government

Posted on 01/04/201924/06/2021 by cswpress in Asia, India

In the lead up to India’s elections from 11^th April-19^th May, CSW is focusing on some of the issues faced by religious minorities in the country.

Last month, CSW’s South Asia Team Leader detailed the anti-conversion narratives that are often used to fuel religious intolerance. In this post, a guest contributor from Jharkhand state, whose name has been kept anonymous for security purposes, outlines the spread of hate speech by government officials in the state:

“On 11 August 2017 the front page of all newspapers in Jharkhand published an advertisement sponsored by the state government with a photograph of Jharkhand Chief Minister Shri Raghuvar Das and Mahatma Gandhi which misused the statement of Shri Mahatma Gandhi claiming that “If Christian missionaries feel that only conversion to Christianity is the path to salvation, why don’t you start with me or Mahadev Desai? Why do you stress on conversion of the simple, illiterate, poor and forest-dwellers? These people can’t differentiate between Jesus and Mohammad and are not likely to understand your preachings. They are mute and simple, like cows. These simple, poor, Dalit and forest-dwellers, whom you make Christians, do so not for Jesus but for rice and their stomach.”

“There is enough place in state prison for all the pastors and preachers if they continue to carry out missionary activity in the state.”

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India’s general election: the politics of religious conversion in pursuit of a Hindu Rashtra

Posted on 28/02/201924/06/2021 by cswpress in Asia, India

As India approaches the Lok Shaba (parliamentary) election this year, the right-wing Hindu organisation, Rashtriya Swayamsevek Sangh (RSS) and its affiliates (collectively known as the Sangh Parivar) are likely to take stock of their progress in realising their dreams of making India a Hindu Rashtra (Nation).

Constructed on M.S Golwakar’s ideology that since time immemorial, ‘mother India’ was formed of ‘one culture, one religion,’ the RSS pursues a narrative that the Hindu has fallen ‘victim’ to foreign religions, namely Islam and Christianity, and that the protection of the ‘faithful’ is imperative.

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‘Faithful disobedience’ in the face of a relentless crackdown: one year since China’s Revised Regulations on Religious Affairs.

Posted on 01/02/201924/06/2021 by cswpress in Asia, China

Over the past year, the Chinese government has intensified its crackdown on Christians and other religious groups across China.

The mass incarceration of over one million predominantly Muslim Uyghurs, Kazakhs and members of other ethnic groups in ‘re-education camps’ in Xinjiang since 2017 has alarmed the international community, with the detentions receiving UN condemnation. At the same time, Christians across China are also being relentlessly targeted by the Chinese state apparatus, with countless violations ranging from the arrest and torture of religious practitioners to the forced closure of places of worship remaining a daily reality for those peacefully exercising their universal right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB).

Since the revised regulations on religious affairs came into effect on 1 February 2018, reports have emerged of the removal of over 7,000 crosses in Henan province alone. Christians in Henan have also reported that unregistered churches across the province have been forcibly shuttered by authorities. Outside of Henan, in the wake of the revised regulations authorities across China continue to harass worshippers and restrict religious observance at state-approved churches by removing religious symbols from buildings, banning under-18s from religious activities, and forcing churches to install cameras and sing pro-Communist songs.

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FoRB on the Frontlines: An atmosphere of self-censorship

Posted on 03/12/201824/06/2021 by cswpress in Asia, Bangladesh, FoRB on the Frontlines

In the run-up to Human Rights Day on 10 December and the 20^thanniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders on 9 December, CSW has been speaking with HRDs across South Asia to find out what it means to be a FoRB defender in the region.

Julfikar is a human rights defender working in Bangladesh:

“When friends, well-wishers and colleagues frequently advise me to restrict my movement and leave my country for safety elsewhere, it becomes an indescribable mental pressure. I have been facing this reality for many years now, but it has intensified over the last one year as Bangladesh heads to the national election on December 30.

I have spent 28 years as a professional journalist. During this period, I have witnessed horrific political, religious violence, and brutal terror attacks in the name of Islam. I have investigated and covered many of those traumatic events and closely observed others. There are many more to investigate, but the situation is gradually becoming more difficult for people like me.

In my career, I have exposed violations of human rights, religious persecution, atrocities, intimidation, war crimes of 1971 and criminal activities, abuse of law, corruption, hate campaign, propaganda and fake news on the social media with ill motives.

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