ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy organisation CSW, says 2021 has been a year of both setbacks and advances with regard to freedom of religion or belief…
As ever, 2021 has been a year of both setbacks and advances with regard to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) around the world. Many challenges remain as the year draws to a close, but there is also much cause for hope and perseverance as we seek to continue standing up and speaking out for all who are suffering because of their religion or belief.
Stories from 2021: Top – Aftermath of an airstrike in Myanmar’s Karen State; Middle – Pastor Lorenzo and his wife Maridilegnis; Bottom – An anti-coup protesters outside the Sudanese Embassy in London. ALL PICTURES: Courtesy of CSW.
“As ever, 2021 has been a year of both setbacks and advances with regard to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) around the world. Many challenges remain as the year draws to a close, but there is also much cause for hope and perseverance as we seek to continue standing up and speaking out for all who are suffering because of their religion or belief.”
In February, the Myanmar army, known as the Tatmadaw, seized power in a coup, raising concerns for the situation of the country’s ethnic nationalities, many of whom are also religious minorities, who had suffered violations at the hands of the military for decades. Sadly, these concerns proved accurate, with the rest of the year marked by military attacks on civilians, the destruction of places of worship, and the killing of religious leaders among a host of other violations.
Similar concerns have now arisen in Sudan, where the military seized power in a coup on 25th October, bringing an effective end to two years of fragile democratic transition. The situation remains uncertain and highly volatile, with reports emerging of the targeting of individuals who worked for the civilian-led government, while those loyal to the former regime have returned to power.
In Afghanistan, the return to power of the Taliban has sparked a host of fears for women and religious minorities in the country, with CSW raising particular concern over credible allegations of house-to-house searches, summary executions, forced marriages, enforced disappearances and the killings of members of ethnic minority communities. The emergence of Islamic State – Khorasan Province (IS-K) has further compounded these concerns, with the group responsible for several terrorist attacks targeting the Shi’a community in particular.
Of course, in many other countries that CSW works on, the situation remained unchanged, or even deteriorated further throughout 2021. In Nigeria, the government is still failing to adequately respond to threats posed by armed non-state actors in the country’s northern and central states, and to uphold the right to FoRB in the country’s 12 sharia states. In China, Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party continue to oversee widespread and egregious violations of FoRB and a host of other fundamental human rights, most notably in the Uyghur region, where between one and three million Uyghurs, Kazakhs and members of other predominantly Muslim ethnic groups are believed to be detained in so-called political re-education camps.
These are just a few examples which help to paint the bleak picture facing many religion or belief communities around the world today, but as Paul writes in I Thessalonians (5:16-18), we are encouraged to “rejoice always, pray continually [and] give thanks in all circumstances”, and, as we look back on 2021, there is still much cause for this in our work.
In July, for example, we saw unprecedented nationwide protests in Cuba in which thousands of citizens took to the streets to condemn the Communist Party’s decades-long hold on power, crackdown on human rights and pro-democracy movements, and management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government responded with unsurprising force, and many issues, including the ongoing detention of Pastor Lorenzo Rosales Fajardo, remain in need of urgent international attention. However, we take heart from the courage and persistence of the Cuban people, and stand with them as they continue to fearlessly call for change.
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Similarly, we are inspired by the courage of the people of Myanmar and Sudan in response to the aforementioned coups in those countries. In both nations, thousands of citizens have taken to the streets, standing unbowed and unbent in the face of those who seek to restrict their rights and freedoms, and in some cases even to claim their lives.
Elsewhere, we saw prayers answered in Pakistan, where, after seven years on death row, Christian couple Shafqat Emmanuel and Shagufta Kausar had their sentences overturned on 3rd June. The couple had been convicted under the country’s notorious blasphemy laws in 2014 after they were accused of sending text messages which disrespected Islam’s Prophet Mohammad. Many others remain imprisoned facing similar charges; however, Mr Emmanuel and Mrs Kausar’s case is a valuable reminder that justice can and will break through, and it spurs us on to continue campaigning for the rights and freedoms of those like them.
In the words of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, who paraphrased American minister Theodore Parker: “the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice”. As we reflect on 2021 we can see this being manifested, even amid the ongoing trials and challenges, and remain as committed as ever to the realisation of a world in which everyone is free to believe.
Ellis Heasley is public affairs officer at UK-based religious freedom advocacy organisation CSW.
