The submission highlights a concerning issue: the deportation of Ahmadi asylum seekers by Sweden to Pakistan, where they face a high risk of persecution. The submission argues that Sweden’s actions in this regard contravene international law, European legal frameworks, and established UN guidelines, which recognize the extreme vulnerability of Ahmadis in Pakistan.
On the 8th of October 2024, at the Warsaw Human Dimension Conference hosted by CAP Liberté de Conscience a side-event was held to discuss the challenges faced by Ahmadi refugees in Europe. The discussion was led by two speakers – Willy Fautré from Human Rights Without Frontiers and Nasim Malik, from Sweden who also General Secretary of the International Human Rights Committee (IHRC).
The International Human Rights Committee (IHRC) has condemned the Pakistani government’s relentless campaign of persecution against the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. In a scathing incident report, the IHRC has documented a series of horrific attacks on Ahmadi mosques and places of worship carried out with the direct involvement and support of Pakistani authorities.
The rise of populism presents a significant challenge to the universal principles of human rights. In the anthology Religious Freedom and Populism: The Appropriation of a Human Right and How to Counter It, editors Bernd Hirschberger and Katja Voges compile a series of scholarly contributions that examine how right-wing populists and extremists worldwide appropriate and distort the human right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). This critical volume not only dissects the rhetorical strategies employed in this appropriation but also delves into the societal dynamics that facilitate such distortions. It offers valuable insights and proposes strategies to strengthen human rights and foster a constructive culture of debate in democratic societies.
HRWF (09.10.2024) – The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan is enduring an alarming rise in violence and systemic persecution in 2024, with a disturbing trend of targeted murders, desecration of mosques and graves, and the continued denial of basic civil rights.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has long faced systemic persecution and violence, particularly in Pakistan. Despite Pakistan being a signatory to international human rights instruments, the state has codified religious discrimination against Ahmadis into its constitution and legal frameworks, most notably through the Second Amendment of 1974, which declared Ahmadis as non-Muslims, and Ordinance XX of 1984, which criminalised their religious practices. As a result, Ahmadis in Pakistan live under constant threat of violence, imprisonment, and societal exclusion. The United Nations (UN), through its eligibility guidelines and various human rights bodies, has repeatedly affirmed that Ahmadis fleeing persecution in Pakistan qualify as refugees under international law.
We are deeply concerned about Germany’s refusal to grant asylum to Ahmadiyya Muslims and their forced return to Pakistan, where they face persecution and denial of rights. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan is enduring an alarming rise in violence and systemic persecution, with a disturbing trend of targeted murders, desecration of mosques and graves, and the continued denial of basic civil rights. By sending back the Ahmadis to Pakistan, Germany contravene its obligation under:
We are very concerned about the systematic discrimination and exclusion of law-abiding citizens who follow the teachings of the Scientology religion in Germany.
In fact, there have been at least three thousand ninety-five cases in the last ten years in which German government agencies have included “faith-breaking” clauses in their invitations to bid, requiring bidders to renounce any association with Scientology.
