OSCE Meeting on Religious Freedom in Vienna - FOREF Statement & Recommentations

SUPPLEMENTARY HUMAN DIMENSION MEETING

ON FREEDOM OF RELIGION OR BELIEF

9-10 December 2010 Hofburg, Vienna
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Statement & Recommendations
AUSTRIA

BACKGROUND:

In Austria, we have over 66 percent Catholics and 2.9 Protestants. Islam, with 450 000 Muslims (4.2percent) constitutes the second largest faith community. Only 14 faith communities enjoy special privileges by the state. Another 10 are so-called “Confessional Communities.” There are approximately 600 religious minority groups, which are regarded as so-called “sects” and are targets of the anti-sect offices.  With a population of 8.2 million, Austria has no less than 33 anti – sect offices operating in the country. Proportionally, this marks an unmatched record in Europe and even on a global scale.

● Including the Federal Sect Observatory, there are five (5) state sponsored sect observation offices

● Nine (9) Catholic Sect Offices

● Seven (7) Protestant Sect Offices
● Four (4) Private Sect Offices
● and eight (8) Family Counseling Offices with special emphasis on “Sectarian
issues”.

Austria’s constitutionally granted freedom of religion and the neutrality of the state in religious matters are torpedoed by the following facts:

FOREF-COMMENTARY: Who needs the National Sect-Office?

FOREF-COMMENTARY: Who needs the National Sect-Office? by Werner Mueller

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Vienna, 8.12.2010 – The National Office for Sectarian Issues exists in Vienna since 1998. Its central purpose is to collect, document and distribute information about so-called sects. The nature of this information is unknown. Is it publicly available information from the media, reports from so-called drop-outs or information from the so-called sects themselves? We do not know because the national office divulges no information about it and so transparency is non-existent. The taxpayers should actually expect it from a public office funded by taxes with a budget of over 400,000 Euro.
(Photo: Dr. German Müller, leader of the Federal Sect-Office)

The reference of the national office to simply collect, evaluate and distribute information about so-called sects, does not justify the expense of approximately seven employees. And anyhow, what is meant by collecting information, is the television programme perused for contents relating to the theme or daily newspapers evaluated? And if so, who receives these “threatening medial scenarios” which ultimately contribute to opinion making? The public is not permitted any insight into files relating to persons or financial issues of the National Office for Sectarian Issues.

Should we take a look at the work and results of the National Office for Sectarian Issues over the last ten years then it is sobering to establish that the “observation” of “sects” has not led to any results by this office. Where are the publications, the informational documents or the public presentations which reveal the potential risk of “sects”? And what results has the now more than ten years of observation of these groups brought? The National Office for Sectarian Issues remains silent on this issue. What we can read are individual annual reports of this office which in no way really describe the allegedly potential danger which apparently comes from “sects”.

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize 2010

Free Liu Xiaobo!!!!!

The Misuse of the law on extremism Against Religious Minorities in Russia

OSCE/ODIHR Human Dimension Implementation Meeting

Vienna, 9-10 December 2010 

Security Issues and Freedom of Religion or Belief

The Misuse of the law on extremism

Against Religious Minorities in Russia

Over 700 pieces of religious literature banned

Website: http://www.hrwf.net

Misuse of the law on extremism in Russia

Human Rights Without Frontiers is concerned about the misuse of the law against religious extremism in Russia which has led to the prosecution of numerous peaceful groups which do not threaten public order, social peace or national security.

A court in the far eastern town of Komsomolsk-on-Amur has ordered a local internet service provider to block access to the international Jehovah's Witness website http://www.watchtower.org. The court ruled that magazines posted in Russian on their website violate the integrity of the Russian Federation and "incite social, racial and religious discord".

A nationwide state campaign directed against Jehovah's Witnesses began in early 2009. It intensified when the Supreme Court upheld Rostov-on-Don Regional Court's earlier ruling which outlawed 34 Jehovah's Witness titles as extremist and dissolved the local Jehovah's Witness congregation in Taganrog.

Three criminal cases have already been opened against individual Jehovah's Witnesses in connection with alleged extremist activity, accusations the accused vigorously deny.

Similarly the targets of a nationwide campaign are readers of the works of the Turkish Muslim theologian Said Nursi, many of whose works have also been placed on the Federal List of Extremist Materials.

The List, which runs around 700 titles, contains items whose preparation, distribution or storage with the intent of distribution is banned across Russia.

OSCE holds high profile Meeting on Religious Freedom in Vienna

Ahead of Human Rights Day, OSCE human rights chief, UN Special Rapporteur call for removing undue restrictions on religious freedom

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http://www.osce.org/odihr/item_1_48158.html

VIENNA, 9 December 2010 - Janez Lenarcic, the Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), and Heiner Bielefeldt, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, today called on states to remove undue restrictions on the fundamental freedom of religion or belief.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow's Human Rights Day at a special OSCE meeting on the topic, Lenarcic and Bielefeldt warned that individuals and communities still face impediments in enjoying freedom of religion or belief in many countries.

Lenarcic noted that some states tend to promote tolerance and mutual understanding among major faith groups while neglecting their commitment to respect religious rights for all: "Fostering tolerance and dialogue among mainstream religions is to be encouraged, but it cannot substitute for the protection of the freedom of religion or belief of all members of society, including smaller and less popular groups."

He said there are still countries in the OSCE region where individuals and groups cannot freely study religion, assemble to worship, disseminate religious literature or establish charitable organizations.
UN Special Rapporteur Bielefeldt stressed that everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, without any discrimination based on religion or belief.

"Freedom of thought, conscience and religion includes freedom to change one's religion or belief and freedom to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance," he said, and called on states "to respect freedom of religion or belief, to actively protect such freedom against undue interference, and to promote an atmosphere of tolerance".

The two-day meeting, organized together with Kazakhstan's OSCE chairmanship, coincides with Human Rights Day, which marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948.

Ambassador Madina Jarbussynova, who represented the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office at the meeting, stressed that respect for freedom of religion or belief is at the core of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and OSCE human dimension commitments.

At the OSCE Summit in Astana last week, the leaders of the 56 OSCE participating States agreed on a declaration that called for greater efforts to promote freedom of religion or belief. The Astana Commemorative Declaration also reiterated that the protection and promotion of human rights is the first responsibility of government, and expressed appreciation for the important role played by civil society and free media in helping to ensure full respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law.

Wikileaks hounded?

Wikileaks hounded?

 http://en.rsf.org/wikileaks-hounded-04-12-2010,38958.html

Statement by Reporters Without  Borders

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Reporters Without Borders condemns the blocking, cyber-attacks and political pressure being directed at cablegate.wikileaks.org, the website dedicated to the US diplomatic cables. The organization is also concerned by some of the extreme comments made by American authorities concerning WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.

Earlier this week, after the publishing several hundred of the 250.000 cables it says it has in its possession, WikiLeaks had to move its site from its servers in Sweden to servers in the United States controlled by online retailer Amazon. Amazon quickly came under pressure to stop hosting WikiLeaks from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and its chairman, Sen. Joe Lieberman, in particular.

After being ousted from Amazon, WikiLeaks found a refuge for part of its content with the French Internet company OVH. But French digital economy minister Eric Besson today said the French government was looking at ways to ban hosting of the site. WikiLeaks was also recently dropped by its domain name provider EveryDNS. Meanwhile, several countries well known for for their disregard of freedom of expression and information, including Thailand and China, have blocked access to cablegate.wikileaks.org.

This is the first time we have seen an attempt at the international community level to censor a website dedicated to the principle of transparency. We are shocked to find countries such as France and the United States suddenly bringing their policies on freedom of expression into line with those of China. We point out that in France and the United States, it is up to the courts, not politicians, to decide whether or not a website should be closed

UN Rebuts China for its "Cult" Stigmatization

UN Rebuts China for its "Cult" Stigmatization

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http://www.falunhr.org/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=1828&Itemid=

On Thursday, October 21, 2010, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Prof. Heiner Bielefeldt drew the world's attention, once again, to China's persecution of Falun Gong. He specifically denounced China's stigmatization of Falun Gong and some other "small communities" as "cults," during his presentation at the 65th U.N. General Assembly, held in New York.  Special Rapporteur Bielefeldt said, "Small communities, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Baha'is, Ahmadis, Falun Gong and others are sometimes stigmatized as 'cults' and frequently meet with societal prejudices which may escalate into fully fledged conspiracy theories."  This is Prof. Bielefeldt's first report to the U.N. General Assembly since he took the position as Special Rapporteur in August 2010. Ms. Asma Jahangir previously held the position. In his 15-minute presentation to the 192 member states, he criticized the government of China for its systematic persecution of and attitude of "intolerance" towards belief groups, including Falun Gong. His speech was reported to have "irritated" the delegation of China. The delegate responded with their usual demanding tone and repeated the communist party's position that the "correct response" is to eradicate Falun Gong.  The international media described China as being "irritated" yet again. This reaction accords with former reports of this kind. For example, after the U.N. Committee against Torture (CAT) published their China torture report on November 21, 2008, news media including the New York Times, BBC, VOA, and RFI unanimously described the government of China as being "irritated." Through this, the raspy and aggressive nature of the Communist party has been well exposed to the international community.

Release of the 2010 International Religious Freedom Report

Release of the 2010 International Religious Freedom Report

http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/11/151081.htm

Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

November 17, 2010

Video: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1705667530?bctid=678942946001

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SECRETARY CLINTON: Good afternoon. It’s my pleasure to join you today for the release of the State Department’s Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. Every year, the State Department prepares a comprehensive review of the status of religious freedom in countries and territories around the world. We do this because we believe that religious freedom is both a fundamental human right and an essential element to any stable, peaceful, thriving society.

This is not only the American view; it is the view of nations and people around the world. It is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it is protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and it is guaranteed by the laws and constitutions of many nations, including our own, where religious freedom is the first freedom listed in our Bill of Rights.
Because we believe in religious freedom and because we are committed to the right of all people everywhere to live according to their beliefs without government interference and with government protection, we are troubled by what we see happening in many, many places. Religious freedom is under threat from authoritarian regimes that abuse their own citizens. It is under threat from violent extremist groups that exploit and inflame sectarian tensions. It is under threat from the quiet but persistent harm caused by intolerance and mistrust which can leave minority religious groups vulnerable and marginalized.

During the past year, al-Qaida issued calls for further violence against religious minorities in the Middle East. Sufi, Shia, and Ahmadiyya holy sites in Pakistan have been attacked. So was a Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad just a few weeks ago. We received reports from China of government harassment of Tibetan Buddhists, house church Christians, and Uighur Muslims. And several European countries have placed harsh restrictions on religious expression.

Religious Freedom World Report 2010- US State Department

International Religious Freedom

The International Religious Freedom report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide.

Europe and Eurasia: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2010/c39465.htm

The International Religious Freedom Report for 2010 was released on November 17, 2010.

'Religiouscide' in Iraq targets Christians

 'Religiouscide' in Iraq targets Christians

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http://mnnonline.org/article/14955

Iraq (MNN) ― A series of bombs and mortar attacks are targeting Christians in Iraq. The attacks focused on six districts with strong Christian majorities. President of Open Doors USA Carl Moeller says, "Christians around the world are witnessing what I'm calling a 'religiouscide.' Extremists Sunni and Shia are targeting the Christian community for extinction." 

Moeller says al Qaeda issued threats to Christians asking members to consider Christians as legitimate target.

In Baghdad, Moeller says the situation is desperate. "One of my coworkers wrote to me. He said, 'Yesterday the city was almost closed. Three bridges across the river were closed. That's out of the Christian community, part of the city. I couldn't get across the River.'"

Moeller continues, "There were coordinated roadside bomb attacks within the Christian community there, killing five additional Christians. The situation, he says, is worsening day by day. There's no life for Christians in Baghdad anymore. We will be driven out of town, and nobody is helping us. Everybody, even the army and police, are afraid and not able to help."

Iraq had over one million Christians before the Iraq war. Moeller says, "There are less than 400,000 Christians in the entire country by our last count. And of that, 250,000 of them are living in refugee status within their own country. So, literally a 90 percent decline in the size of the Christian community."

Moeller is encouraging Christians to pray for these believers. "This is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church weekend coming up. We need to be on our knees, even now, for our brothers and sisters there in Baghdad. And we need to be using our voice in Washington, DC to exercise as much pressure as we can on the Iraqi government to protect the Christians there."

Moeller is hoping that pressure will help. If not, "This would be a massive humanitarian tragedy, if this ancient Christian community -- there for two millennia, predating Islam by hundreds of years -- would be extinguished in our time."

Open Doors is helping displaced Christians around Iraq. You can help them, too. Just go to http://www.OpenDoorsUSA.org to help.

“I am a survivor of torture myself”

“I am a survivor of torture myself”
new UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez

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GENEVA (4 November 2010) – Human rights defender Juan E. Méndez, from Argentina, has taken over as the new Special Rapporteur appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor and report on the use torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in the world.

“I am a survivor of torture myself, so my approach to the mandate will certainly be victim-centered,” Mr. Méndez said. “By insisting on the absolute prohibition of torture and of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in international law, I hope to make an effective contribution to the enforcement and progressive development of international norms in this area.”

“Beyond law,” the new UN Special Rapporteur stressed, “we need to do battle in the realm of ideas and political discourse, to counter an attitude of relativism about torture, as something that happens to ‘others’ whose faces we don’t see and whose names we can’t pronounce.”

Mr. Méndez has dedicated his long legal career to the defence of human rights and has a distinguished record of advocacy. As a result of his work representing political prisoners, he was subjected to torture, while under an eighteen month long administrative detention, by the Argentinean military dictatorship. During this time, Amnesty International adopted him as a “Prisoner of Conscience.” In 1977, he was expelled from Argentina and moved to the United States, where he worked in different capacities, including as legal counsel for Human Rights Watch.

Mr. Méndez is currently a Visiting Professor of Law at the American University – Washington College of Law, contributes as an advisor on crime prevention to the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court and Co-Chairs the Human Rights Institute of the International Bar Association. He was formerly, the President of the International Center for Transnational Justice (ICTJ) and Scholar-in-Residence at the Ford Foundation in New York. Mr. Méndez served as UN Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide from 2004 to 2007.

"Kidnapping and Confinement in the Unification Church" – SBS Video Aired in Seoul, Korea

 "Kidnapping and Confinement in the Unification Church"

Aired on SBS at 11PM Seoul, Korea time on October 6, 2010

People are shocked as cases of oppressive kidnapping and confinement are recurring continuously and systematically within the Unification Church. Unification Church members are having their human rights violated as they are violently coerced to renounce their faith while forcibly confined by their families and a large and organized kidnapping force that uses the families and has ties with Christian ministers and others.


See video-documentary here: http://vimeo.com/16325762

or here: http://www.familyfed.org/news/index.php?id=184&page=1&apage=1
or here: Kidnapping and Confinement in the Unification Church – Kiyomi Returns Home after 13 Years from UC on Vimeo.


To this day, Japanese wives are unable to visit their parents' homes due to concerns and fear of a second or third abduction. A considerable number of them show signs of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

There are a total of about 7,000 Unificationist Japanese wives currently residing in Korea. Around 300 of them claim to be victims of kidnapping and confinement. It is expected that there is a larger number of unaccounted victims.

On SBS's Pursuit of the News on October 6, 2010, a focus report on the reality of inhuman and anti-religious human rights violations against Japanese Unificationist wives living in Korea was aired. Moreover, they covered a disclosure of the inside of the Unification Church.

In particular, changes of the Unification Church in its second generation lead by International President Hyung Jin Moon, the 32-year-old young seventh son of Unification Church founder Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon.

The viewing rate of the focus report was 11.8%, which is double the average viewer rate of other programs, ranging from 5-7%. The reaction to SBS from viewers on the internet also went through the roof. With a normal response of 300 comments, this SBS program received over 7000.

(SBS Internet News Department)

Women Clergy Protest Japan’s Human Rights Violations

Women Clergy Protest Japan’s Human Rights Violations

At Independence Hall, Birthplace of Religious Freedom, 120 Women Clergy Protest Japan’s Human Rights Violations

http://religiousfreedomnews.blogspot.com/2010/11/women-clergy-protest-japans-human.html
Philadelphia, October 29, 2010

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The depth and weight of history is felt at Independence Hall. This is the place where George Washington was chosen to command the Revolutionary Army and is the place that the Declaration of Independence was signed. It is the place where the Constitutional Convention was held over which Benjamin Franklin presided. It is the place that a nation proclaimed that all men are equal and are endowed by God with inalienable rights which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Liberty is so central at this historic place. Just across the green is the Liberty Bell which symbolizes what America fought for – God given rights. The Constitution established in its first Amendment that religious liberty was the most essential right and that all other rights are strengthened when religious freedom is secured.

On Friday, October 29th in front of the Independence Hall, 120 Women Clergy of all denominations of the American Clergy Leadership Conference Women in Ministry gathered to take a stand against the abductions and human rights violations in Japan. Representing all 50 states, the women faith leaders visited and prayed together for Religious Freedom at this hallowed place. Joined by representatives of the Women’s Federation for World Peace, they cried out from Hawaii to Texas, to New York to Chicago to Atlanta. They cried out for the freedom of others have been violently abducted, beaten and held prison under mental and physical abuse to break their faith. Why are they held. Because, they are being persecuted for their faith. The Women in Ministry decried the ongoing abduction and faith breaking of members of the Unification Church in Japan and demanded the release of the victims.

Iraq’s Christians Still Under Siege

Iraq’s Christians Still Under Siege

Nina Shea  Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom
http://religiousfreedomnews.blogspot.com/
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Iraqi Christianity has suffered another catastrophic blow that is likely to hasten the church’s wholesale flight from the country: Last evening, al-Qaeda suicide bombers laid siege to Our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church in Baghdad during Sunday Mass while 120 local Chaldean Catholics were worshiping inside. The Washington Post reports that 42 Iraqi worshipers were killed, along with seven Iraqi rescue commandos. Among the dead are two priests, Father Wasim Sabieh and Father Thaier Saad Abdal, while a third, Father Qatin, has a bullet lodged in his head and is in uncertain condition. This is only the latest in a series of direct attacks on Iraqi churches that began in 2004.

Joseph Kassab, executive director of the Chaldean Federation of America, wrote to me that “since Iraq has no government, we are calling for the international community to intervene in protecting and saving the indigenous people of Iraq , the Chaldean Assyrian Syriac Community.” He emphasizes, “Things are deteriorating very fast in Iraq , our people are left with no choice but to flee because they are losing hope and there is no serious actions taken to protect them as of today.”

Archdeacon Emanuel Youkhana of the Church of the East, another persecuted Christian church with an ancient presence in Iraq , sent a report as well. Apart from the widely covered information that the terrorists demanded prison releases, he documents (with two links) another, directly religious motive that enraged al-Qaeda: the conversion of Muslim girls into another Christian denomination in another country.

The terrorists belong to Al-Qaieda organization in Iraq called: Islamic State of Iraq.They were demanding according to the Iraqi sources the release of their colleagues in Iraq and Egypt . A statement by this terrorist group and circulated on the internet in their websites is warning and demanding the release of the Muslim girls from Christian background who are, according to the statement, prisoners in Egyptian Coptic Church monasteries. The statement is giving 48 hours warning time to release those girls or they will explode the church. The statement, as other cases, is fill [sic] of threats against infidels everywhere.

Christians remain the largest non-Muslim minority in Iraq , but church leaders express a real fear that the light of the faith in Iraq — which is said to have been kindled personally by Thomas, one of Jesus’ Twelve Apostles — could soon be extinguished. Iraq ’s Christian population has been reduced by as much as half; adherents have been driven out by brutal terrorist attacks and government marginalization. Iraq ’s other non-Muslim religions — the much smaller groups of Mandeans (followers of John the Baptist), Yizidis (an ancient angel-centered religion), Bahai’s, and Jews — are also being forced out, and in some cases, their unique languages and cultures may not survive in exile.

Religious persecution in Iraq is so “egregious” that the country has now been included by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on a recommended short list of “Countries of Particular Concern” under the International Religious Freedom Act, alongside the likes of Iran and China . No group in Iraq, Muslim or non-Muslim, has been spared massive and appalling religiously motivated violence; however, as the independent federal commission found, the one-two punch of extremist ruthlessness and deep governmental discrimination now threatens the “very existence” of Iraq’s Christian churches (some of whom still pray in Aramaic, the language of Jesus of Nazareth) and Iraq’s communities of Mandeans and Yizidis, which are even older. As last night’s attack again shows, these smallest minorities are not simply caught in the middle. They are being fiercely targeted for their faith.

As I have written before, this raises an urgent question for the West: Without the experience of living alongside Christians and other non-Muslims at home, what would prepare the Muslim Middle East to peacefully coexist with the West?

Brainwashing and Religious Torture Accelerate in China

Brainwashing and Religious Torture Accelerate in China

Gao Rongrong, in hospital after being tortured by Chinese security forces.

The Falun Gong remains the major target of Communist authorities and practitioners in China according to a series of internal Communist Party documents, some of them posted online.

Included are details of a new three-year, multi-billion dollar campaign targeting Falun Gong practitioners across China.

The campaign’s stated goal is to “transform” 75 percent of all known practitioners, who number in the tens of millions despite eleven years of brutal suppression. Specifically, the campaign calls upon security forces to go into “villages and households” to “educate and conquer” Falun Gong practitioners.

Transformation—a euphemism for forcing practitioners to renounce Falun Gong and pledge allegiance to the Communist Party—has been at the core of the anti-Falun Gong campaign since its inception. As part of the
transformation process, individuals are typically subjected to physical and psychological torture. (report)

"What these documents call for is a campaign of surveillance, extralegal abductions, physical torture, and psychological abuse on a massive scale," says Falun Gong spokesman Erping Zhang. "The scenes playing out across China could be taken right out of Orwell’s 1984."

"When Chinese authorities talk of ‘transforming’ Falun Gong practitioners, what they mean is torturing out of people the aspiration to be honest, kind, and tolerant. They torment healthy, rational people to the point where the victim either betrays his or her most deeply held beliefs and completely submits to the will of the Communist Party, dies from abuse, or is driven to the edge of sanity. They push practitioners to the point where life is a living hell."

The Falun Dafa Information Center has obtained eight documents from various localities describing a campaign to intensify efforts to transform Falun Gong practitioners from 2010 to 2012. Seven of the documents are available online, while the eighth was obtained from an internal source whose identity and location cannot be revealed for fear of retribution.

Based on details in the documents, the campaign is a multi-billion dollar initiative. On one webpage from Xinglong township in Sichuan province, the instructions call for an increase in funding for transformation
efforts. The document states that “to transform one Falun Gong person costs on average 45,000 yuan [$6,750] nationwide, 40,900 yuan in Sichuan provice, in my township, 39,000 yuan.” Given that Falun Gong practitioners in China number from 20 to 40 million (demographics), the total cost reaches tens of billions of dollars.

Although all eight documents are from the level of county or below, there is little doubt that the instructions originated at the top echelons of the Communist Party. One document explicitly states that the campaign was initiated by the central 6-10 Office, an extralegal security force that has led the persecution of Falun Gong since 1999.

A timeline of Falun Gong abuse and persection as well as this latest report can be found online at The Falun Dafa Information Center here.

Obama Skips Golden Temple Visit

Obama Skips Golden Temple Visit

President Caves in to Domestic Political Ignorance
over His Religious Identity Rather Than Standing for Religious Freedom

www.religionandpolicy.org

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Alexandria, VA (October 20, 2010) - THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy is deeply disappointed President Barack Obama has decided to opt out of an expected visit to the Sikh Golden Temple, one of India's holiest shrines, out of fear that wearing the requisite headgear might make him look like a Muslim.

"The Obama Administration has an abysmal record on international religious freedom issues. This could have been an unique and historic opportunity for the president to stand in the holiest shrine of an often-discriminated religious minority and to speak for the rights of all minorities around the globe," commented THE INSTITUTE's Founder and Chairman of the Board, Joseph K. Grieboski.

Obama was to visit the sprawling golden complex in Amritsar, "but the plan appears to have foundered on the thorny question of how Mr. Obama would cover his head, as Sikh tradition requires, while visiting the temple," wrote the New York Times.
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Watch the Video-Summary:

Multisource political news, world news, and entertainment news analysis by Newsy.com
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Sikhs are often mistaken as Muslims, and since 9/11 they have been the unintentional targets of anti-Muslim violence in the United States.

"By turning down a visit to the Golden Temple, President Obama disappoints not only the global Sikh community, but also every religious minority in the world who saw his visit as a demonstrable sign of support for their rights," continued Mr. Grieboski. "Instead of standing for religious freedom and against religious intolerance, President Obama has caved in to an ignorant minority in the United States who hide behind a conspiracy theory that he is a Muslim."

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THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy

500 N Washington Street
Alexandria, VA 22314

703.888.1700 (p)
703.888.1704 (f)

www.religionandpolicy.org

Contact:
 Sarah Channing Grieboski
Director of Communications
sarah@religionandpolicy.org

FRANCE: Religious Minorities stigmatized as "mutating viruses" and "pathology of belief"

FRANCE

Religious Minorities stigmatized as "mutating viruses" and "pathology of belief"

CAPLC - HRWF (07.10.2010) - www.hrwf.net - Created over ten years ago to fight against discrimination of religious or belief minorities in France, the Coordination of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience which I am representing wants to express its strongest disapproval concerning the statement made on 26 November 2009 by the French Secretary of State for Justice, Jean-Marie Bockel, about minorities of religion or belief derogatorily labelled as "sectarian".

According to him the growing quest of personal fulfilment and the emergence of unusual religious syncretism are significant of the sectarian phenomenon which "can be analyzed as pathology of belief on a background of individuation and deregulation of belief."

This public statement made in 2009 at the first national conference of the Inter-Ministerial Mission of Fight and Vigilance against Sectarian Deviances (MIVILUDES) is still posted on the official site of the Ministry of Justice to this day. For the French authorities, it is necessary to repress minorities of belief they consider as deviant and to attempt to regulate beliefs.

The Secretary of State added that "sectarian deviances" are "comparable to mutating viruses which spread in often insidious ways the poison of manipulation of human behaviours and spirits". We understand that viruses as such should be eliminated.

In spite of the French government's assertions to the OSCE and the United Nations that MIVILUDES does not take in consideration the content of beliefs, the fact is that the main criterion retained by MIVILUDES in its 2008 Report to characterize mental manipulation is that "one or more people start to believe in certain ideas which differ from the ideas generally accepted by society".

RELIGIOUS SCHOLARS URGED TO INVESTIGATE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN JAPAN

http://stopjapanabductions.org/

Speaking to the Center for Studies on New Religions (CENSUR), Dan Fefferman, President of the International Coalition for Religious Freedom, urged religious scholars from Europe and North America to conduct independent investigations into the kidnappings and forced de-conversions of Unification Church members in Japan.

CESNUR is the world’s premier gathering of scholars dedicated to the study of new religions and religious minorities. Approximately 150 scholars attended the conference, held in Turin, Italy at the University of Turin.

Fefferman reported to CESNUR attendees that 10 to 20 Unification Church members are currently victims of forced de-conversions each year in Japan. Two new victims were abducted against their will during the month of August, and several more church members remain missing.

While so-called “deprogramming” has been eliminated in the United States for nearly 20 years, there exists a well organized movement in Japan to kidnap Unification Church members and hold them against their will for months or even years at a time.

Most Japanese government officials turn a blind eye to the human rights abuses, and police refuse to investigate in part because there are not enough independent voices demanding justice.

“Scholars are not involved in Japan,” Fefferman told the CESNUR audience. “One of the reasons they are not involved is that they are taking a professional risk if they defend the Unification Church.”

Fefferman shared real life stories of deprogramming survivors who report beatings, threats with knives, humiliation and other psychological abuse, food depravation and rape. Despite the clear abuses of civil liberties, Japanese authorities refuse to intervene, calling religious affiliation a “family matter.”

In the United States, American citizens are being encouraged to sign a petition for Congress to hold hearings on Japan’s human rights violations. Specifically, the hearing would be held by the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, co-chaired by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).

Support International Human Rights, NOW!

 Support International Human Rights, NOW!

Sign this Petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/4/support-human-rights-now/

• Target: President Medvedev
• Sponsored by: THE INSTITUTE on Religion and Public Policy

We, the undersigned, write to communicate our concerns regarding the escalating threats to religious freedom in Russia. We are writing to respectfully request that you both address these urgent issues and immediately begin to establish policies that uphold the Russian Constitution and international commitments.

Article 29 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation guarantees freedom of religion, including the right to profess either alone or in community with others any religion or to profess no religion at all, to freely choose, have and share religious and other beliefs and manifest them in practice.  Article 30 provides that everyone shall have the right to freedom of association.

Further, Russia has signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has signed and ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the European Convention on Human Rights.
Yet the use of the 2002 Extremism Law to combat "religious extremism" and, coming against an established pattern of local government obstruction of non-Russian Orthodox religious communities, this has led to a crackdown on religions that has been termed by Forum 18 News Service as the new "Inquisition."

Religionsfreiheit und Christenverfolgung

Religionsfreiheit und Christenverfolgung

Interview mit Daniel Gerber vom Hilfswerk "Open Doors"

http://www.politik.ch/religionsfreiheit-und-christenverfolgung.html

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Christen sind weltweit die am meisten verfolgte Religionsgruppe. Daniel Gerber vom christlichen Hilfswerk "Open Doors" gibt in einem Interview mit politik.ch Auskunft über den neuen Christenverfolgungs-Index. 

Herr Gerber, Open Doors widmet sich immer wieder dem Problem der Christenverfolgung. Sie erstellen einen viel beachteten Index darüber. In welchen Staaten finden die schlimmsten Verfolgungen statt? Welches sind Ihre Quellen? 

Unverändert hart ist die Unterdrückung in den letzten Jahren in Nordkorea geblieben, im Iran, Irak, Saudi-Arabien, Ägypten und Somalia, sowie in – wenn man von schlimmer Verfolgung spricht – etwa einem Dutzend weiterer Länder. Deutlich gestiegen ist der Druck in den letzten beiden Jahrzehnten gerade auch in Pakistan, mitunter durch das oft missbrauchte Blasphemiegesetz und zahlreichen Morden durch den fanatischen Mob.

Im laufenden Jahr sind die Repressionen namentlich in Algerien und Marokko gestiegen. Nach einer Entspannung in Algerien verschärft sich die Lage derzeit wieder, so stehen etwa nächste Woche zwei Christen vor Gericht, weil sie während des Ramadans tagsüber gegessen haben, zudem fordert eine Provinzregierung die Schliessung einer Kirche. Aus Marokko wurden heuer rund 130 ausländische Christen ausgewiesen. Generell ist zu sagen, dass wo Christen verfolgt werden, auch andere religiöse Minderheiten leiden und es um die Menschenrechte nicht besonders gut steht. Von Zeit zu Zeit gibt es glücklicherweise auch gute Nachrichten, so hat sich die Lage in China leicht gebessert, auch wenn noch lange nicht alles zum Besten steht.

Unsere Informationen beziehen wir durch ein dichtes Netz an Fachleuten die in den Ländern leben, Anwälte, kirchliche Leiter und eigenen Mitarbeitern welche mit den Betroffenen reden aber auch mit den Behörden, Richtern und Funktionären. Daneben führen wir eigene Recherchegespräche, im Fall von Marokko zum Beispiel mit Ausgewiesenen, da auch Schweizer betroffen waren auch mit der Schweizer Botschaft und weiteren Involvierten.

The Terry Jones saga shows the strength of anti-Americanism

Sunday Telegraph

The Terry Jones saga shows the strength of anti-Americanism

The 'pastor' who threatened to burn the Koran shows how eager Europe is to believe the worst of America, argues Janet Daley.

 Anti-Americanism has a new pin-up. “Pastor” Terry Jones, whose congregation may number as many as 50 on a good week, is holding the world in thrall with his on-again, off-again Koran-burning stunt. In spite of his idiotic proposal having been condemned by everyone in US public life, including the President, Sarah Palin, the secretaries of state and defence, the Pentagon, and the spokesmen of every respectable religious group, this wacko fantasist would have been capable (we were told) of destroying any prospect of peace between the West and the Islamic world. 

 

Mercifully, after what may have been a persuasive visit from a gaggle of FBI men, the “pastor” decided to cancel his grotesque commemoration of September 11. But presumably if his face-saving story of receiving an assurance that the Ground Zero mosque was to be moved is definitively trounced, he could choose once again to push us to the brink of global Armageddon.

Hello? Has anyone noticed how utterly ridiculous this is? One publicity-crazed loony threatens to commit an irresponsibly offensive act, to the virtually universal disgust of his own countrymen and the populations of America’s allies, and that’s it: the annihilation of any chance of bridge-building or conciliation between Muslim countries and the Western nations.

That this absurdity became the immediately accepted received wisdom suggests that the world (and not just the Muslim parts of it) must be very eager indeed to find a plausible excuse for casting America as a cartoon country whose heartland is dominated by bigoted know-nothings. Never mind that this is the same America which, only two years ago, was being hailed by ecstatic European liberals for having elected a black president, whose father and stepfather had been Muslims. I remember saying at the time that the victory of Barack Obama would provide only the most fleeting respite from the dominant anti-American mythology which is so essential to European self-regard.

Thousands Rally Against Park51 Mosque on 9/11 Anniversary

Thousands Rally Against Park51 Mosque on 9/11 Anniversary
www.christianpost.com 

As many as 40,000 people gathered near New York City’s Ground Zero Saturday on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to protest the planned Islamic center and mosque two blocks away.

But according to Agence France-Presse and other mainstream media outlets, only about 2,000 people participated in the rally. The exceptionally large difference in figures is intentional, claimed organizers of the anti-Park51 demonstration.

“Crickets are chirping in taqiyya (Arabic word for concealing, guarding) media newsroom nationwide (although they were all there),” complained Pamela Geller, who organized the rally. “There has been no coverage.”

“We organized a rally of remembrance that dwarfed the opposition. If the America haters had 4,000, we had ten times more,” she wrote on her blog, Atlas Shrugs, disputing reports claiming that the dueling protests over the mosque were evenly matched. “The media is playing the dueling rallies; it was no such thing.”

At the rally against the mosque, international figures were featured, including controversial Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders.

Fla. Preacher: Quran Burning Plan 'Back to Square One'

 Fla. Preacher: Quran Burning Plan 'Back to Square One'

 www.christianpost.com

Just hours after canceling “International Burn A Quran Day,” the Florida church behind the controversial event said Thursday it could move forward with its original plan if the deal it thought it struck turns out to be non-existent.

(Photo: AP Photo / Phil Sandlin)
Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center speaks to the media as Imam Muhammad Musri of the Islamic Society of Central Florida looks on at left, Thursday, Sept. 9, 2010, in Gainesville, Fla.…

"We have not canceled the burning on Saturday,” said Wayne Sapp, associate pastor of Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla. “We have suspended it until we get confirmation on the info we were given today.”

Earlier in the day, the church’s head pastor, Terry Jones, told members of the press that he and his church would consider it “a sign from God” to cancel the burning if the group behind the proposed Islamic center and mosque near the World Trade Center site were to cancel or move its facility to another location.

“The American people do not want the mosque there. And of course Moslems do not want us to burn the Quran,” Jones explained Thursday, tying together the two controversial plans.

That said, the non-denominational preacher reported that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind the Park51 project, "has agreed to move the mosque.”

In response, Jones said he and members of his church agreed to cancel Saturday’s burning.

VIENNA-Austria: Pro-Choice against Pro-Life - How the "ProChoice" lobbyists use nasty tricks & violence against christian activists (see video)

The Story Of Human Rights (video)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Video)

Exposing Japan's Human Rights Violations

Exposing Japan's Human Rights Violations

A new website launched yesterday exposes human rights violations in Japan tied to abductions and forced conversions of religious minorities in Japan.

Forced conversions and abductions in Japan are a hidden human rights crime that denies people the fundamental right to worship freely.  The site, www.StopJapanAbductions.org  will pursue justice on behalf of victims and hold the government of Japan accountable for their failure to prosecute these crimes against humanity.

The new website hosts news articles and videos of kidnap victims, as well as a petition, calling on the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission to hold Congressional hearings into Japan's violation of international human rights treaties.

The European Leadership Conference in a fact finding tour to Japan recently held a summit featuring world renowned human rights activists who attest to the abuses taking place in Japan.

According to human rights activist Aaron Rhodes: "This is a nightmare because public authorities [in Japan] are in collusion with criminals."

After many interviews with victims of religious abductions and forced conversions in Japan, Peter Zoehrer, a journalist in Europe, concluded:

• Police in Japan often refuse to help victims of abduction and forced conversion
• In some cases, police in Japan cooperate with the perpetrators
• In several decades, not a single case has been prosecuted in Japan
• Japanese civil courts treat the problem as a "family matter"

The website petition, from the International Coalition for Religious Freedom, calls on Congress to hold hearings before the end of the year about religious and human rights abuses taking place in Japan – one of America's great trading partners.  These hearings should be held by the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights, co-chaired by Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA).

Invitation: CESNUR Conference - Turino, Italy, 9-11 September 2010

The 2010 International Conference

Changing Gods. Between Religion and Everyday Life

An International Conference organized by CESNUR, Italian Association of Sociology (AIS) - Sociology of Religions Section, and the School of Political Science - University of Torino

Torino, Italy, 9-11 September 2010

Università di Torino - Facoltà di Scienze Politiche - Via G. Plana 10

 

 PROGRAM

REGISTER here

Thursday 9th September

8,45-10 / Registration / Entrance hall
10-12,30 / Session 1 – Plenary / Great Hall (Room A) - Ground floor
Changing Gods

Chair: J. Gordon MELTON
Welcome Addresses
Roberto COTA (Governor of Piedmont)
Antonio SAITTA (President, Province of Torino)
Franco GARELLI (Chair, School of Political Science, University of Torino)
Massimo INTROVIGNE (Managing Director, CESNUR)
Enzo PACE (Chair, Sociology of Religions Section, AIS)
What’s Going On? Are the Gods Here, There or Everywhere?
Eileen BARKER (London School of Economics)
Diffused Religion and Prayer
Roberto CIPRIANI (University of Roma Tre)
The End of the Mass? Over-Reporting and Catholic Mass Attendance: An Empirical Study
PierLuigi ZOCCATELLI (CESNUR)

12,30 / Lunch (on your own)
14-16 / Parallel Sessions
14-16 / Session 2 / Room E - Ground floor
Pluralism and Globalization
Chair: Molly CHATALIC
Strange Bedfellows? Religious Pluralism, Exclusivism, and Certitude
Peter ADMIRAND (Trinity College, Dublin)
Religious Differences Lead to Linguistic Differences (Albanian Reality)
Rrezarta DRAÇINI (Luigj Gurakuqi University, Shkodra)
Europe Between Christian Identity and Multiculturalism
Alessandro IOVINO (Federico II University, Napoli)

14-16 / Session 3 / Room G - 1st floor
Islam and Globalization
Chair: Bernadette RIGAL-CELLARD
Two Neighbor Mosques in the Greater Lisbon Area: Proximity and Conflict Between Salafism and Sufism
José ANES (Lusíada University, Lisboa)
View of Male and Female Iranian Students. Gender Egalitarian Attitudes among the Women and the Younger Generation in Iran
Ehsaneh BAGHERI (Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris)
Religious Pluralism and Qoran
Abrahim FALLAH (Islamic Azad University, Sari Branch)

Japan Overlooking Human Rights Abuses Claims International Media

http://stopjapanabductions.org

 

TOKYO, (August 13, 2010) – The highest levels of the Japanese government are complicit in religious freedom and human rights abuses, according to recent testimony of Toru Goto, a Unification Church believer who was kidnapped and held against his will for 12 years in Japan.

According to the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Mr. Goto has filed a lawsuit against members of his family, alleging kidnapping and torture, which left him confined for 12 years, deprived of food and proper nutrition and psychologically tortured in an attempt to make him renounce his personal faith.

In a letter addressed to the Diet of Japan and the Commissioners Reviewing the case of Mr. Goto, Rev. Cecil L. “Chip” Murray wrote, “I am very deeply concerned and dismayed to see that those who imprisoned Mr. Toru Goto are not being held accountable and that his case was simply dropped last December.”

Rev. Murray is Pastor Retired at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles and Tansey Chair of Christian Ethics, Center for Religion, USC.

Over the past 40 years, thousands of followers of the Unification Church have been submitted to human rights abuses outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948 and signed by Japan.

Rev. Murray’s letter notes, “It has been brought to my attention that there are currently five Japanese citizens being held against their will: ages 60, 35, 30, 26 and 22.  Reportedly, one of these was just captured during this past month of March.”

Mr. Goto has filed a petition with the Committee for the Inquest of Prosecution attached to the Tokyo District Court to reconsider his case after it was dismissed earlier this year.  The Commission is expected to announce findings in the near future.

In a speech directed at religious freedom and human rights, United States President Barack Obama stated, “People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind and the heart and the soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it’s being challenged in many different ways.”

Organizations throughout America and Europe dedicated to religious freedom and human rights are closely watching Mr. Goto’s legal complaint in Japan.  Many are calling for the Japanese government to issue a formal apology for 40 years of neglect and shame.

CHINA: Persecution of Christians

Source: ChinaAid
August 17, 2010

GUANGZHOU--On August 13, 2010, after a brief detention by people from the Ministry of State Security, Pastor Wang Dao of Liangren Church in Guangzhou contacted ChinaAid President Bob Fu, requesting his assistance in issuing an urgent call for prayer. After translating the document, ChinaAid released the letter to Chinese media earlier today.

Read the full Letter from Pastor Wang Dao, requesting intercessory prayer:

Dear Pastor Fu,

Peace in Christ!  Thank you for taking great risks in fighting for the rights of the persecuted Christians in China, including your care and help for Liangren Church of Guangzhou. The rights defense attorneys who work side by side with you are like angels.  Wherever there is a need for them, there is their presence!  Please accept our heartfelt gratitude for you!  May God keep a record of the hard work you have done!

Sometimes, we are too naïve and innocent in believing that we can gather in peace for a while, but the facts have told us that we should not harbor any delusions (about our situation) for Satan.  Let me send you information of what we have gone through in the past two days.  Following is the intercession message of our church.  Please continue to pray for us in our fight!  Immanuel!

Your humble brother in Christ,
Wang Dao
August 13, 2010 

“Liangren House Church of Guangzhou has again been suppressed and driven away by the Guangzhou authorities!”

On August 11, under great pressure from the Public Security office in Guangzhou, Zhuying Garden Hotel was forced to unilaterally terminate the rental agreement with Liangren Church. It was a one-year lease contract the Zhuying Garden Hotel had signed with us, of its own initiative, on July 16.  However, the agreement was terminated after only one month of existence!