Religious freedom advocates strongly condemned deterioration of human rights in Pakistan at the 58th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, particularly continued abuse of the country’s harsh blasphemy laws and forced conversions of minority girls.
Nicaragua has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council following a damning report by U.N. experts accusing President Daniel Ortega’s government of systematically suppressing human rights, democracy and religious groups.
A court in Pakistan acquitted Christian twin brothers of a false blasphemy accusation as the prosecution failed to prove charges against them, their attorney said.
Pakistan’s preferential trade status could be jeopardized if it fails to address human rights concerns, including controversial blasphemy laws, forced marriages and conversions of religious minority girls, and freedom of religion, an EU delegation has said.
An Islamist gang trapped more than 450 people in false blasphemy charges in recent years in Pakistan, including five who were tortured death in custody, according to human rights lawyers.
The United Nations has been accused of promoting a political agenda after the organization’s Western European regional office suggested that the definition of “femicide,” the intentional murder of women, includes deaths from unsafe abortions.
A group of five legislators in Brazil is taking the leftist government to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, contending that pro-life campaign messages were unjustly censored in violation of free speech protections under international law.
Iraq is considering a constitutional amendment that would lower the legal age of marriage for girls to 9, effectively legalizing child rape.
Lawyers, human rights activists and religious leaders in China have strongly condemned of the government’s labeling of unregistered house churches as fraudulent organizations, decrying the accusations as violations of the right to freedom of religion or belief.
Meg Kilgannon, senior fellow for education studies at the Family Research Council, raises concerns about laws that force Christians to compromise on their beliefs and values, and highlights concerns about debanking and the pressures corporations face to cave to the LGBT lobby.
