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United Nations Geneva

Conference celebrating 70th Anniversary of the UDHR

On December 10th we will be celebrating at the UN Geneva the 70th Anniversary of the UDHR and look for people willing to come, who were born on 10th December 1948.
Please contact us at info@humanrights70.eu

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URGENT PETITION

For the respect of all religions and for the protection of freedom of belief in the People’s Republic of China

URGENT PETITION

For the Attention of the President of the People’s Republic of China

For information, to:

Secretary General of the United Nations
United Nations Committee for Human Rights
Secretary General of the Council of Europe
President of the European Commission
President of the United States of America
President of the Community of Independent States
President of the Russian Federation
President of the Republic of Italy
President of the Republic of France
Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

 

For the respect of all religions and for the protection of freedom of belief in the People’s Republic of China

[ To go directly to the petition form click here ]

President Xi Jinping,

we are addressing You, as the guide for the widest and most populous country on earth.

We are a group of NGOs that have been working for years to protect freedom of belief, a fundamental human right granted by a number of norms of international laws, first and foremost article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and also by article 36 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China of 1982 as well as by article 53 of the Common Program of 1949.

Chinese people’s freedom to practice religions they believe in, is consistently challenged and trampled on.

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Neelam Makhija: wrongly suspected of being an Indian guru, he is two months in preventive prison

Indo-Canadian engineer retired, Neelam Makhija, 71, spends two months in prison and is held against his will in France for two and a half years. His crime, being a friend of a coach who hosted, once a year, meditation seminars! Despite his acknowledged innocence before the court, he cannot obtain compensation (financial, moral) for the damages suffered.

On 10/09/18, by Jean-Luc Martin-Lagardette

Neelam Makhija, 71, shares his life between Mumbai (India) and Toronto (Canada). Of Indian origin, he is also a Canadian citizen. An engineer in third cycle electronics (MSEE) and holder of a master of business administration (MBA), he founded and directed for 23 years in Canada a company specialized in high-tech electronic projects. Retired since 2006, he spends his time between Canada and India where his two daughters and grand-children live.

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HOW UNIVERSAL IS THE "UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS" TODAY?

OSCE - HDIM 2018

SOTERIA INTERNATIONAL contribution to OSCE - HDIM 2018 - WORKING SESSION 7:
Fundamental freedoms, including the freedom of thought, conscience, religion or belief
13th September 2018:

HOW UNIVERSAL IS THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS TODAY?

Recommendations:
•    Soteria International recommends ODIHR and the OSCE member states to explore how to guarantee the universality of human rights as universal principles, rather than cultural expressions.

•    Soteria International recommends ODIHR and the OSCE member states to explore how religion and spiritual systems from a universal perspective may provide answers to fundamental human needs and tools for developing human potentials.

•    Soteria International recommends the OSCE member states to the educational system to play a major role in reintegrating religion and belief as a constructive part of our lives. By integrating and understanding religions and belief systems by their universal principles, we overpass the differences between cultures, traditions and religions.

At the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights we would like to ask: How Universal is The Universal Declaration of Human Rights today?
Especially when it comes to Freedom of Religion and Belief we find great confusion, where even in the heart of Europe we find that what would pass as civil service in a secular frame (such as coaching your child's football team), when practiced in a religious context (offering one’s service as karma yoga) can be tried as a criminal offence (human trafficking).

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THE VERY TOOLS FOR SECURING THE RULE OF LAW OPEN A RISK FOR ITS CORRUPTION

OSCE HDIM 2018

SOTERIA INTERNATIONAL CONTRIBUTION TO OSCE HDIM 2018

WORKING SESSION 5- RULE OF LAW

12 September 2018

Today, rule of law is challenged not only from arbitrary application of the law within certain OSCE member states, but increasingly by how the tools regulating the interaction between different national judicial systems lacks a precision to hinder abuses and misinterpretations. Thus, the very tools for securing the rule of law open a risk for its corruption.

Recommendations:

1-       Soteria International recommends the ODHIR and all OSCE member states to embrace an investigation into stopping cultural bias to influence the application of tools of international judicial collaboration.

2-       Soteria International recommends international bodies and all OSCE member states to scrutinize the frameworks regulating international judicial collaboration in general, and especially with regards to the European Arrest Warrant, in order to prevent human rights infringements in the margins between one national judicial system and another.

We live in world of increasing international collaboration. In trade, science and art, international collaboration is carried by its own mechanisms, some cultures being inter alias more compatible than others. The tools of judiciary international collaboration do not have the privilege of letting an organic process develop, but is regulated by imposed regulations. The bluntness of these regulations seem to open for abuses and misinterpretations, intentional or not.

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OSCE - HDIM 2018 - Side Event - How Universal is UDHR?

Soteria International & Coordination of Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience (CAP) invite you to our upcoming conference, hosted at the OSCE HDIM 2018:

How Universal is “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”?

Globalization underline that the UDHR is often applied relative to regional culture, rather than securing universal principles. Especially when it comes to Freedom of Thought, Religion or Belief we find how cultural bias influence policy and law-making. What one considers a religious practice - such as devotional work in monastery - others consider criminality - in this case human trafficking.

Often it passes as a non-regrettable consequence of natural differences between one culture and another. Still, what may pass as normal when it comes to cultural norms, must still be questioned when presented within the framework of human rights, claiming to be universal.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is based on converging and finding common ground between different cultures. However well accomplished, Mrs Roosevelt's project never sought a base for Universality other than an estimation from a fixed position in time and space.

CAP, Church of Scietology, EMISCO, FOB, FOREF will be together with Soteria International in debating the Universality of UDHR.

 

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Stop the Persecution of Chinese Refugees of The Church of Almighty God in South Korea

Heavily persecuted in China, with many documented cases of torture and extra-judicial killings, hundreds of members of The Church of Almighty God have escaped to South Korea, where they are seeking refugee status. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pursuing them also in Korea. It has coerced or persuaded with threats their relatives to go to Korea and ask that the refugees “return home,” i.e. go back to China where they would not go “home” but to jail, and is staging false “spontaneous demonstrations” with the help of local organizations against the “cults.”

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An Open Letter to the Italian Minister of Economy, Mr. Giovanni Tria. While Discussing Economy with China, Do Not Forget Religious Liberty

Together with several others NGO, Soteria International addressed a common letter to Italian Minister of Economy, Mr. Giovanni Tria. He is currently visiting China and we hope that the disscussion to reach also to the freedom of belief and religious liberty.

Here is the letter:

"Dear Mr. Tria:

We wish you a fruitful visit to China on behalf of Italian economic interests.

Last July, Italy was an official participant in the Washington D.C. “Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom”. There, 82 countries solemnly agreed that religious liberty should be regarded as a non-negotiable cornerstone of international relations.

We hope that the good economic relationships between China and Italy may help you in raising with your Chinese counterparts the matter of the gross violations of religious liberty in China, which became even worse with the new laws on religion that came into force in 2018.

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The Church of Almighty God (CAG) - part 4

The Motion for Stay of Removal to China of Sister Zou Demei Has Been Granted

The Board of Immigration Appeals granted on August 13 a stay of removal to the leader of The Church of Almighty God in four Chinese provinces, who was to be deported to China after August 15.

We are now pleased to report that the application for stay has been granted.

The Board will now examine the substance of the matter, and the legal battle is far from being over, but the immediate risk of repatriation to China – where Sister Zou would be arrested and may be executed – has been averted.

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The Church of Almighty God (CAG) - part 3

The case of Ms. Zou Demei

Mr. Russell Abrutyn, attorney for the leader of The Church of Almighty God in four Chinese provinces currently detained in Detroit, who faces deportation back to China and possible execution there, has filed a motion to reopen her case, with new evidence.

Ms. Zou Demei, a Chinese woman, is currently detained in Detroit and facing deportation back to China, where she will be arrested and probably executed.

Ms. Zou was until 2016 the regional leader of The Church of Almighty God (CAG), a Christian new religious movement banned in China, in the four provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Chongqing, and Sichuan. This made her one of the top leaders of the CAG in China, and one of the most wanted by the authorities, with a substantial bounty placed on her head. As all CAG members, she destroyed all evidence of her true identity and went under the pseudonym of Yao Lu.

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The Church of Almighty God (CAG) - part 2

An Urgent Appeal to Chancellor Angela Merkel

Dear Chancellor Merkel:

We are NGOs active in the field of religious liberty, and write about the urgent situation of a Chinese refugee, Ms. Zhao, currently detained at the Aufsichtsund Dienstleistungsdirektion Landeseinrichtung für Asylbegehrende und Ausreisepflichtige in Hamburg, after she resisted forcible deportation to China on July 9.

We urge you to consider that, should Ms. Zhao be returned to China, she would certainly be arrested and might be subject to torture or “disappear” while in custody.

Ms. Zhao is a member of The Church of Almighty God (CAG), also known as Eastern Lightning, a Chinese Christian new religious movement founded in 1991, whose core teaching is that Jesus has returned on earth incarnated as Almighty God, a Chinese woman currently living in the U.S.

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The Church of Almighty God (CAG) - part 1 - Like a Lamb to the Slaughter: Will the United States Send This Woman to Her Death?

An Open Letter to President Trump

Dear President Trump:

We are NGOs, some of them with ECOSOC consultative status, active in the defense of human rights and religious liberty, with a special experience and concerns for China, and write to ask for your urgent intervention in a question, literally, of life and death.

It regards an asylum seeker of a Chinese Christian new religious movement, The Church of Almighty God, who is detained in Detroit, Michigan, and threatened with immediate deportation back to China, where she will be arrested and will be at serious risk of being executed.

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"European Pillar of Social Rights: Going beyond politics and economics"

Conference in the European Parliament

https://www.ceceurope.org/european-pillar-of-social-rights-going-beyond-politics-and-economics/

The European Pillar of Social Rights was jointly proclaimed and signed by the European Commission, European Parliament, and the Council at the Gothenburg Social Summit in November 2017. The European Institutions hold regular high-level meetings and dialogue seminars with churches, non-confessional, and philosophical organisations as partial fulfilment of Article 17 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

On 26 June 2018, the European Parliament brought together representatives from religious communities for a dialogue on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights, a “set of 20 principles and rights that support the renewal of labour markets and welfare systems across the EU.”

Economic and political challenges have hurt the quality of life for many in Europe. Risk of unemployment and poverty remains high, many deal with precarious and unstable work, unpaid or underpaid internships are on the rise, and Europe is falling short of many goals outlined in the EU 2020 strategy.

Mairead McGuinness, First Vice-President of the European Parliament, emphasised the unique importance of churches and other religious communities in responding to these challenges, and defending human dignity and contributing to public policy debates. “You are present in every town and village across the 28 Member States.”

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TOWARD INTERDEPENDENCE AND MUTUAL PROSPERITY: THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS AND PARLIAMENTARIANS

Interreligious Leadership Conference in Wien

Interreligious Leadership Conference took place in Wien, on 28 – 29 April 2018, hosted by Universal Peace Federation, International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace, Interreligious Association for Peace and Development.

Raffaella Di Marzio, very appreciate collaborator of Soteria International, spoke on Saturday April 28 afternoon, in Session III on the theme “The Role and Relevance of Religion in Building Inclusive, Peaceful and Prosperous Societies”.

Dr Raffaella di Marzio (Director, Center for Studies on Freedom of Religion, Belief and Conscience (LIREC), Italy) spoke on the positive influence of religion in society, referring to a number of studies, including an awareness project on minorities, the role of interfaith dialogue in conflict resolution, and religious freedom as a positive influence on economic growth.

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Bitter Winter: Daily News Online of Religion in China

On May 14, 2018, a new online news magazine has been launched at the International Book Fair of Torino, in Italy, Bitter Winter. The name refers both to the difficult situation of religious liberty in China and to a theme in classical Chinese painting.

The launch of Bitter Winter came at the end of FIRMA-Faiths in Tune, a five-day festival of religions and music that ran parallel with the Book Fair. At the Book Fair, two FIRMA awards were presented by an international jury, one to President Daisaku Ikeda of Soka Gakkai for his lifelong commitment to religious dialogue, and one to The Church of Almighty God, a Chinese new religious movement, for its resistance to religious persecution in China. Authorities, journalists, and a significant public attended both the festival, where The Church of Almighty God’s performers were among the most admired groups, and the award ceremony.

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Struggles and Challenges for Freedom of Belief in our society

UN - 37th session of the Human Rights Council

As we all know, it is a major obligation of all EU member states to respect and protect the freedom of conscience, thought and religion and to combat discrimination, and substantial resources are invested to diminish the symptoms of discrimination and non-tolerance. Still, discrimination and non-tolerance continue to challenge our societies.

Public fear and ignorance regarding unfamiliar religious traditions has increased. Discrimination and hate speech increasingly target religious minorities or New Religious Movements and the public debate is increasingly harsh on any group that is considered unfamiliar to society. This reaction on unfamiliar thoughts and religions started at the end of the last millennium, with France and Belgium’s arbitrary sect lists.

Instead of discussing ideas and insights, criminal intent was brought into speculation behind the ideas of witchcraft, subversive plans and mind manipulation. Volunteer work in new spiritual communities is called human trafficking, a consensual love affair is called sexual abuse, etc.

The experience demonstrated by humankind so far, indicates that often legality prevails over righteousness, but when things are considered just as an exclusive result of legislative decisions, human rights can miss the ethical and moral dimensions.

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Deterioration of Religious Freedom in Eastern Europe

Side event at 37th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations (Geneva)

The situation of the Religious Freedom is a reason of concern for several NGOs.

The 15th March 2018, on the occasion of  the 37th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations (Geneva), the  french NGO with United Nations Consultative Status, the Coordination of the Associations and the People for Freedom of Conscience (CAP LC) organised an event on the topic of the Deterioration of Religious Freedom in Eastern Europe. It was focused  on those following countries where this deterioration is unfortunately the most relevant : Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary and Russian Federation.

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FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE, THOUGHT AND RELIGION IN OUR SOCIETY

UN WORLD INTERFAITH HARMONY WEEK - FESTIVAL

The World Interfaith Harmony Week was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly on 20 October 2010. In the resolution, the General Assembly, points out that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace and established World Interfaith Harmony Week as a way to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith, all done on a total voluntary basis.

Showing togetherness, several organizations as:
Center for Dansk-Muslimske Relationer- www.cedar.nu ; EMISCO-  www.emisco.eu ; ENAR-  www.enar-eu.org ; Soteria International -  www.soteriainternational.org ; Youth for Human Rights - www.ungeformenneskeret tigheder.dk ; United for Human Rights – www.humanrights.com ; Vejen til lykke – www.vejentillykke.dk The Danish Baha'I Community - http://www.bahai.dk/ ; Scientology Volunteer Ministers - https://www.freedommag.org join the WORLD INTERFAITH HARMONY WEEK, creating an event together and in this way celebrating the inclusiveness of all faiths in our lives.

The event is open to all people, all faiths and religions and will take place:

Date & Time: SATURDAY, 3 FEBRUARY 2018 from 13.00 – 16.00.
Address: Tent city at Nytorv, Copenhagen K.

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International Convention "Law and Freedom of Belief in Europe, an Arduous Journey"

On the 18 - 19 January one of the biggest events in the field of law and human rights took place, which gathered together 32 speakers from around the world, among which also a representative of Soteria International.

"In the prestigious setting of Sant'Apollonia Auditorium at the homonymous XIV century convent complex located in Via San Gallo, in the historic center of Florence, the international convention of the European Federation for the Freedom of the Belief (FOB) took place, under the auspices of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (Dr. Thorbjørn Jagland), of the patronage of the Tuscany Regional Council, of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and of the University of Florence.

The Medal of the President of the Italian Republic was conferred to the convention. Prof. Silvio Calzolari (Secretary of FOB), presenting it together with attorney Alessandro Amicarelli (President of FOB), publicly thanked the President of the Republic “for having expressed his appreciation for FOB’s initiative, as an event of particular cultural and social value, through the attribution of a representation prize, a medal, which honors us".

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Press Release

Laïcité and Religious Freedom: A Coalition of NGOs Question France at the United Nations

On Monday, January 15, Soteria International attended a side-event following the Universal Periodic Review of France at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. In accordance with the views expressed at this meeting, research conducted by Soteria International has also concluded that French funding of anti-cult organizations, such as FECRIS and its member organizations, leads to stigmatization of spiritual practitions and the violation of the right to Freedom of Religion. This government funded "hate speech" has allowed this discourse to greatly affect the views of society at large, not only in France, but also accross Europe.

The press release for this event has been reproduced below:

CAP/ LC HRWF (15.01.2017) – In a side-event following the Universal Periodic Review of France in Geneva this Monday 15th January, several NGOs and an international law expert have called upon President Emmanuel Macron and his Prime Minister to revise the financing of FECRIS (European Federation of Centers of Research and Information on Cults and Sects) and its member organizations. Under the predecessors of President Macron, FECRIS has benefitted from abusive grants that they have used to disseminate hate speech targeting some minority religious groups in the countries of the European Union and beyond.

The representative of the French NGO CAP/LC (Coordination des Associations et des Individus pour la Liberté de Conscience), Mr. Thierry Vallé, highlighted the French policy stigmatizing religious minorities and the human consequences which are often dramatic for the members of these minorities. By financing FECRIS, France contributes to the expansion of this phenomenon in Europe.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, France must reconsider its policy regarding religious minorities, he added.

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