Displaying items by tag: Asia

The USA is resuming unconditional financial aid to the Palestinians without any stipulation that the PA end human rights violations and assaults on public freedoms. Lawyers for Justice said that the forms of torture in the PA-controlled Jericho Prison included hanging detainees from the ceilings, beatings, verbal abuse and electric shocks. ‘The Future List calls on all electoral lists approved by the Central Elections Committee, all human rights bodies and all honourable people of this country to form a united front to confront the arbitrary political arrests that aim to silence every free voice that rises in the face of tyranny and corruption practiced by the Palestinian Authority.’ It appears the diplomats care little that the PA is arresting, torturing and intimidating social media users and political activists. Western journalists loudly raise their voices when damning Israel. International silence and absolute support for the PA encourages Palestinian leadership to continue their repression.

Afghanistan and its neighbours have spent decades relying on the US and NATO to resolve the country's problems. Wikipedia reports there are up to 18,000 Afghan Christians (3,300 from a Muslim background) practising their faith secretly in the country. Displacement and suffering experienced by those forced to flee their homes and communities is not new for the brave people of this land. Escalating conflict recently has resulted in thousands of new displaced people being registered each week. Around 327,000 people were displaced in 2020, 80% of them women and children. Now that foreign troops are almost gone, security and peace are going with them. The Russians and Chinese fear the further destabilisation of Afghanistan by the Taliban will spill over to five neighbouring Central Asian countries which have their own history of jihadist violence.

On 6 July Tehran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that it was enriching uranium to 20% at its research reactor. Uranium metal is used to make a nuclear warhead core. The development immediately prompted Berlin, London and Paris, which are all parties to the 2015 nuclear deal - along with the USA, Russia, and China - to issue a damning joint statement accusing Iran of a ‘grave breach’ of its obligations. ‘Iran has no credible civilian need for uranium metal R&D and production, which are a key step in the development of a nuclear weapon,’ the statement said. According to Iran’s foreign minister, this enrichment is needed for ‘peaceful, medicinal and humanitarian uses.’ The three countries urged Tehran to stop the violations and return to Vienna’s negotiating table where the original signatories to the deal have been working for months to mediate indirect talks between Iran and the USA.

Religious minorities in India are facing “systematic persecution” at the hands of Hindu nationalists, which is condoned by the authorities, the police, and the media, new research suggests.

The report Destructive Lies: Disinformation, speech that incites violence and discrimination against religious communities in India, by the Christian charity Open Doors, based on research compiled by a team from the London School of Economics (LSE), says that Christian and Muslim minorities are facing an “existential threat” from mobs of Hindu nationalists known as Hindutva.

Hindutva is an ideology that disregards Indian Christians and Muslims (and other religious minorities) as true Indians because they have allegiances that lie outside India and asserts the country should be purified of their presence. This is leading to a systemic, and often carefully orchestrated, targeting of Christians and other religious minorities.

Researchers from the LSE - who have not been named for safety reasons - said that “state actors” were complicit in the attacks, as well as media, and senior religious leaders, who offered tacit approval for the violence. Social media are also frequently being used to stir up attacks on minorities, with impunity.

One researcher said: “The extent to which . . . state actors are complicit in the violence is shocking; it was there even at the ground level. The bureaucrats, the police, the lower court judges, all of them are . . . openly colluding to harass these minorities. And politicians, top religious leaders, and powerful media owners [are giving] very overt signals that this [behaviour] is desirable.”

Christian communities are now living in an “atmosphere of deep trauma, fear and anxiety”, the report says.

“Apart from regular spectacular incidents of mob lynching, even daily life for many religious minority groups is now marked by fear and a sense of abandonment from their fellow beings as well as from the government, and indeed their own religious institutions,” researchers said.

The report featured 8 case studies and determined 4 headline findings:

1. Persecution pervades everyday life
The research found that ‘an atmosphere of deep trauma, fear and anxiety pervades the Christian communities that we visited in rural areas, as well as many of the Christian and Muslim communities in medium-sized towns and villages and on the outskirts of larger cities’.

2. Covid-19 has made persecution even worse
Not only have Christians been deliberately overlooked in the distribution of Covid-19 government aid, they have also been the subject of disinformation relating to the pandemic. These lies have spread across mainstream and social media platforms and apps.

3. State officials are increasingly hostile
Some Indian states have anti-conversion laws. These are frequently used to target Christians for ‘forced conversions’ and reflect how hard-line Hindu influences in the political sphere translates to regressive laws.

4. Attacks are shared as warnings on social media
One of the first things extremists will do before attacking Christians and other religious minorities is snatch their phones. This is to prevent them documenting the incident. But the perpetrators themselves will record the attack and post it on social media.

Sources / More: OpenDoors UK, The Church Times

Pray:

Pray with us that the UK Parliament will respond to this report and use their influence to improve the lives of Christians in India.
Pray with us that each recommendation in the report will be fulfilled.
Pray with us that the lives of Christians in India will be changed (2 Timothy 3:11–12)

Chinese American Pastor Bob Fu of the group China Aid, which provides legal aid to Christians in the People's Republic, recently tweeted, "New Cultural Revolution" starts in #CCPChina this notice to students in a 1st Grade class demanding all parents and teachers to hunt all "religious books, antagonistic books & overseas books including books & videos that are copied/duplicated & translated". Everyone is mandated!"

CBN News says this is not only just another effort by the Chinese Communist Party to indoctrinate students, but it's also trying to prevent disruptions for the 2022 Winter Olympics which will be held in Beijing next February. 
  
"We've got an Olympics coming up and the Chinese communist government does not want any disruptions for the Olympics," Lane said during an interview. "They really fear there could be protests, a pro-democracy movement going, and so forth, leading up to the Olympics and during the Olympics."

"So this sends a message to the parents. 'Look, no outside influence. We don't want any collusion with foreigners here,' because they know that foreigners are pro-democracy," Lane explained. "And so they are indoctrinating students, but they are also targeting not only the youth of China, but also sending a message to the adults."

Alongside this, on June 29, Bitter Winter (A magazine on religious liberty and human rights) published an article revealing that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) unveiled a "Christianity Loves the Party" Exhibition in Shanghai, claiming that “the Chinese Communist Party has been inextricably linked to Christianity from the day of its birth.” Even though the CCP "arrested, tortured, and killed countless believers" during its century reign, authorities expect religions to express enthusiasm and celebrate the 100th anniversary of CCP.

The exhibition tells the story of Christians who helped the first Communists, with some becoming members of the CCP. However, what the exhibition does not tell is that many of these Christians were later expelled from the Party and even executed, while the CCP clarified that only atheists can become Party members.

In this year, the 100^th anniversary of the founding of the CCP, the government has ordered local officials and police officers to strengthen their persecution against all dissident groups, in particular Christian religious movements.

Sources / More: CBN News, Bitter Winter, China Aid

Pray:

Pray with us for the safety of Christians living in China (1 Samuel 2:9)
Pray with us for courage, perseverance and hope for the Church in China.
Pray with us that international political leadership will continue to challenge human rights abuses in China.

With each passing day, the boundary between Hong Kong and the rest of China fades faster.

The Chinese Communist Party is remaking this city, permeating its once vibrant, irreverent character with ever more overt signs of its authoritarian will. The very texture of daily life is under assault as Beijing moulds Hong Kong into something more familiar, more docile.

Residents now swarm police hotlines with reports about disloyal neighbours or colleagues. Teachers have been told to imbue students with patriotic fervour through 48-volume book sets called “My Home Is in China.” Public libraries have removed dozens of books from circulation, including one about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

Under Xi Jinping, China’s leader, the Communist Party has grown tired of Hong Kong’s duelling identities. To the party, they made the city unpredictable, even bringing it to the edge of rebellion in 2019, when anti-government protests erupted.

Now, armed with the expansive national security law it imposed on the city one year ago, Beijing is pushing to turn Hong Kong into another of its mainland megacities: economic engines where dissent is immediately smothered.

The Hong Kong government has issued hundreds of pages of new curriculum guidelines designed to instil “affection for the Chinese people.” Geography classes must affirm China’s control over disputed areas of the South China Sea. Students as young as 6 will learn the offenses under the security law.

All of this has led to a wave of emigration. Many Hong Kongers have applied for immigration visas to the United Kingdom through their British National Overseas (BNO) status. According to a report by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford in May, 34,000 Hong Kongers have applied to live in the UK in the first three months of 2021, whilst The Times reports that 100,000 people have left in the last 12 months.  This is particularly true of families with children who believe that the ‘old’ Hong Kong is now lost.

At the same time, at least three major US tech companies, Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet’s Google, have threatened to leave Hong Kong in protest at planned changes to data-protection laws as the pro-Chinese government cracks down on dissent.

The Asia Internet Coalition (AIC), an industry body backed by the US tech firms, warned Hong Kong’s personal data privacy commissioner that proposed amendments to privacy laws may force its members to stop investing there.

Sources: The Times, Irish Times, New York Times

Pray:

Pray with us for the safety of those who stand against China’s authoritarian rule of Hong Kong
Pray with us for wisdom as families and individuals determine whether to stay of leave
Pray with us for the Church in Hong Kong to remain strong in the face of suppression (Acts 20:28-30)

What began as a coup by the Myanmar military has ‘rapidly morphed’ into an all-out attack against the civilian population that has become increasingly widespread and systematic, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned on 6 July, 2021.

Speaking at the 47th session of the Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet reiterated that the situation in the country has evolved from a political crisis in early February to a “multi-dimensional human rights catastrophe”, repeating a formulation she first used a month ago.

Since the coup, nearly 900 people have been killed while around 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes because of violent military raids on neighbourhoods and villages. “Suffering and violence throughout the country are devastating prospects for sustainable development and raise the possibility of State failure or a broader civil war”, she cautioned.

Ms. Bachelet explained that the catastrophic developments since February have had a severe and wide-ranging impact on human rights, peace and security, and sustainable development. “They are generating clear potential for massive insecurity, with fallout for the wider region”. The UN High Commissioner urged the international community to stand united in pressuring the military to halt its continuing attacks on the people of Myanmar and return the country to democracy, reflecting the ‘clear will of the people’.

She said the UN system must not fail the country a second time”, she added, citing the 2019 review of UN action in the country, by Gert Rosenthal.  She also advised swift action to restore a working democracy before the human rights situation in the country deteriorates further. “This should be reinforced by Security Council action. I urge all States to act immediately to give effect to the General Assembly's call to prevent the flow of arms into Myanmar”, Ms. Bachelet said.

UN Agencies estimate that over 6 million people are severely in need of food aid and forecast that nearly half the population could fall into poverty by early 2022.  “A void has been opened for the most harmful – and criminal – forms of illicit economy to flourish”, she underscored.

She denounced indiscriminate airstrikes, shelling, civilian killings and mass displacement. Civil voices are also being silenced: over 90 journalists have been arrested and eight major media outlets shuttered. “We have also received multiple reports of enforced disappearances; brutal torture and deaths in custody; and the arrest of relatives or children in lieu of the person being sought”, she said.

She added that people across the country continue peaceful protests despite the massive use of lethal force, including heavy weaponry, and a ‘civil disobedience movement has brought many military-controlled government structures to a standstill’.

Some people, in many parts of Myanmar, have taken up arms and formed self-protection groups. These newly formed groups have launched attacks in several locations, to which the security forces have responded with disproportionate force, she noted.

“I am concerned that this escalation in violence could have horrific consequences for civilians. All armed actors must respect and protect human rights and ensure that civilians and civilian structures such as health centres and schools are protected”.

Sources / More: The United Nations, Pray for Myanmar

Pray:

Pray that every bit of suffering, injustice, and heartache in Myanmar will be redeemed by the Lord for good.
Pray that the people of Myanmar would hunger for the hope of the Gospel and find that all their longings are satisfied in Jesus (Colossians 1:27)

The conflict in Afghanistan – America’s longest war – is at an end, or so President Joe Biden is expected to declare this week. At an end, too, is Britain and Nato’s military involvement, dating back to the invasion that followed the 2001 al-Qaida attacks on the US. Except the conflict is not over. In truth, it is intensifying. What’s changed is that the western allies are, in effect, washing their hands of it.

By setting an unconditional US withdrawal date of 11 September shortly after taking office, Biden triggered an unseemly military scramble for the exit that has been joined by all residual Nato forces, including most UK troops. It now appears the vast majority will have left by the start of July, without ceremony or fanfare, almost by the back door. The fourth of July is American Independence Day. It may also come to be remembered as deserting Afghanistan day.

The official silence in Britain surrounding this shabby, half-hidden retreat is deafening – partly for justifiable security reasons, but also out of sheer political embarrassment. Ministers and army chiefs surely know his unilateral decision to quit, despite the absence of a peace deal or even a general ceasefire, is dangerously irresponsible.

The withdrawal has set Afghanistan back on the path to terror, mayhem and disintegration. A catastrophe is in the making. These are not the predictions of mere armchair critics. Gen Austin Miller, commander of US forces, warned last week that chaos beckoned. “Civil war is certainly a path that can be visualised if it continues on the trajectory it’s on. That should concern the world,” he said.

The impact on women and girls

Many Afghans say they expect that the Taliban will return to power, either via a power-sharing deal with the Afghan government or through sheer force. The group already controls around half the country, ruling by its own definition of Islamic law. And there is widespread fear that if they do, the Taliban will reintroduce its notorious system of gender segregation from when the group ruled in the late 1990s, which barred girls and women from almost all work, the right to vote and access to education.

If the scant gains won by women and girls in education disappear, it could have wide-reaching ramifications, from the role women play in shaping their country’s future to donor support that keeps Kabul’s hospitals open and government workers paid.

Experts see the treatment of women and girls by the Taliban as a barometer of the group’s future actions as they take over large swaths of the country. The restrictions on education could only be the beginning of a large-scale rollback of women’s rights in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have made quick territorial gains throughout the country since U.S. troops began leaving Afghanistan, including seizing at least 80 districts of the country’s approximately 400 since May 1, according to a tally by the Foundation for Defense and Democracies’ Long War Journal. More than one thousand Afghan security forces fled north into Tajikistan since last week.

Soon, beleaguered Afghan security forces will be left to fend off the Taliban and other extremist groups without any NATO firepower. In recent months, nonstate actors from the Taliban and groups aligned with Islamic State have targeted and killed a slew of women in the public eye, from journalists to health workers.

In early May, insurgents targeted students leaving school in Kabul, killing at least 90 people, most of them schoolgirls from the Shi’ite Hazara minority, an ethnic group long persecuted by the Taliban. Bloodstained backpacks and charred notebooks lay strewn among their dead bodies. The Taliban denied responsibility for the attack and condemned it but stopped short of heeding calls by the Afghan government and Washington for a permanent cease-fire. The Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, blamed the Taliban, which pointed the finger at Islamic State.

Sources / More: The Observer, Time

Pray:

Pray with us that God will protect the most vulnerable in Afghan society, especially young girls and women (Isaiah 1:17)
Pray with us that the international community will come to realise its ongoing responsibilities towards this nation
Pray for political leadership on all sides, that it might focus on peace and reconciliation over violence and confrontation

A mother in Singapore has shared her ‘unspeakable joy’ after rejecting her doctor’s advice to abort her son because he has Down’s syndrome. In an open letter to the Straits Times, Koh Sui Tin recalled how she was told there was a ‘very high chance of my baby having a chromosomal abnormality’. The doctor advised her to abort because of ‘all the challenges that my child would potentially have’, but Sui Tin refused and said her son Daniel - now three - is ‘thriving’. Sui Tin added, ‘Daniel is slow in learning but he is smart in his own way, and I do not see him any differently from other children, who all have unique learning paths. I shudder to think of how many babies like Daniel were aborted because of the unbalanced information on Down’s syndrome that doctors often relay to parents.’

Members of the Early Rain Church in Chengdu continue to face harassment as authorities attempt to shut down their unregistered congregation. While Wang Yi, the head pastor, is serving a nine-year prison sentence, other members of the church have also encountered persecution. Since early June, church minister Wu Wuqing, his wife Xiong Meifang, and their children have been locked in their home by governing officials. The fire door, which gives access to the stairs and lift, has been chained, and guards remain posted outside the door. At first the guards would unlock the door if visitors came to see the family but on 8 June they turned a woman and her children away, stating that since visitors were prohibited from entering the residence, they would only be allowed to pass food through the fire door.