Freedom of Religion or Belief in full – A blog by CSW
王顺平、怒桑邓、三罗波、华秀霞和董梦汝被关押了九个月。
他们的罪行是什么？他们在中国云南省怒江傈僳族自治州福贡县的一处出租屋内举行了几次基督教聚会，向一群年轻人教授吉他和赞美诗。
尽管他们于5月7日被保释，但当局仍未撤销对其“组织、赞助非法聚集罪”的指控。
这五名基督徒服务于怒族社区，其中三名男子是怒族传道人。怒族是中国当局正式承认的56个民族之一。当地以西方传教士活动的历史而闻名，信仰基督教新教的人口比例较大。而在云南全省，佛教、道教、伊斯兰教、基督教、民间少数民族信仰并存。
Continue reading ““云南经验”表明中国各宗教团体和少数族群的处境将会更艰难”
Wang Shunping, Nu Sangdeng, San Luobo, Hua Xiuxia and Dong Mengru spent the past nine months in detention.
Their crime? Holding a handful of Christian gatherings and teaching guitar and hymns to a group of young people in their rented home in Fugong County in the Nujiang Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of China’s Yunnan Province.
Though they were released on bail on 7 May, the charges against them relating to ‘organising and sponsoring an illegal gathering’ are yet to be dismissed.
All five individuals – three men and two women – work among the ethnic Nu community, one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognised by the Chinese authorities; the three men are Nu ethnic preachers. In China, the majority of the Nu live in Yunnan, where a significant history of Western missionary activity has resulted in a large Protestant Christian population alongside the majority religions of Buddhism and tribal animism.
Continue reading “‘The Yunnan Model’ could be an indicator that life is going to get even harder for religious and ethnic groups across China”
27 April 1993: Eritrea declares official independence from Ethiopia after a referendum which saw a 98.5% turnout with a 99.83% vote in favour.
The vote took place nearly two years after the defeat of Ethiopian forces in Eritrea in May 1991, which brought with it an end to nearly three decades of civil war. The referendum installed the leader of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF, which later became PFDJ – People’s Front for Democracy and Justice) Isaias Afewerki as president, and it was hoped that he would lead the Eritrean people into a just and democratic future – then-US President Bill Clinton even referred to him as a ‘renaissance African leader’.
Continue reading “The international community must assist in transforming Eritrea’s pathocracy into a genuine democracy”Sadly, this did not occur. Afewerki remains the only ruler Eritrea has ever known, and under his leadership the nation’s heroic liberation struggle has been resolutely betrayed due to his obsession with absolute power.
María Concepción Hernández Hernández comenzó el 2023 en el hospital después de un brutal ataque físico que está relacionado con ser parte de la minoría religiosa en su comunidad. El 1 de enero ingresó a cuidados intensivos debido a vómitos constantes que le impedían retener los alimentos. Pasó diez días allí antes de ser dada de alta brevemente solo para regresar a cuidados intensivos debido a vómitos con sangre el 18 de enero.
Como los médicos no reportaron ninguna mejoría al principio, su familia no veía mucha esperanza, hasta llegar al punto de que los miembros de su iglesia en Rancho Nuevo en el Municipio de Huejutla de los Reyes del estado de Hidalgo, México, habían limpiado un terreno. para su entierro.
Afortunadamente, ella salió adelante. Regresó a casa el 9 de febrero y hoy camina con la ayuda de su hijo y un bastón. Todavía sufre un dolor de espalda persistente causado por haber sido arrojada con fuerza contra el tronco de un árbol, pero su recuperación sigue siendo milagrosa.
Continue reading “Tras el brutal ataque a uno de los suyos, la comunidad que es minoría religiosa en México espera justicia y libertad religiosa”
Faced with a growing number of protests in Cuba on the part of its citizenry, the Cuban regime has needed to forcibly recruit men1 into the ranks of its military. They are not being brought in to bring peace or mediate in the middle of the protests, exactly, but rather to violently repress and neutralize the protests, of which 5,164 separate incidents have been recorded since demonstrations broke out on 11 July 2021, also known as 11J. The new recruits have also been made to participate in the creation of false evidence, which has been used to lock up more than 1,000 political prisoners since 11J.
The Cuban Conflict Observatory reports that 589 protests took place in October 2022; this was the month with the highest number incidents since demonstrations first broke out on 11J. The regime has had to resort to raids, using various means of deception and often force, to increase the numbers of enlisted young people.
Continue reading “‘I will not beat other people; I am a Christian’ – Cuba’s new criminal code outlaws freedom of conscience “‘Do you know what they did to a group of young people?’ a pastor asked CSW. ‘They phoned them to arrange the handover of their degrees and grades, [but really] the people from the military committee were waiting for them to enlist them.’