The U.K. All Party Parliamentary Group has released a report listing 10 of the worst countries for religious freedom.
The report, “Article 18: From Rhetoric to Reality,” found that the countries had violated Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which protects religious liberty.
The countries in the report were:
- Eritrea
- Egypt
- U.K.
- Russia
- Saudia Arabia
- Iran
- China
- Vietnam
- Myanmar
- Bangladesh
The report said that nearly 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries with “high” or “very high” levels of restrictions on religious freedoms.
Offenses against Article 18 can include both direct government denial and state failures to protect the right to religious liberty.
In Eritrea, ““there are credible reports of female Christian prisoners being beaten on their wombs, allegedly to prevent them from bearing children,” the report says.
In Egypt, ISIS has killed or injured hundreds of Coptic Christians and the Egyptian government refused to approve licenses to build Christian churches.
In the U.K., Muslim attacks have increased, and in Russia, Jehovah’s Witnesses were banned earlier this year.
Muslims and atheists are being arrests and sometimes killed in Saudi Arabia, and Christians are being arrested in Iran.
The report did not include the nations of Nigeria, Syria and North Korea, where known persecution against Christians is occurring.
Publication date: October 30, 2017
Comments are closed.