A new independent human rights report examines why religious minorities in Pakistan continue to face discrimination and violence despite constitutional guarantees — and concludes that the gap between formal protection and lived reality is structural, not incidental.
CAP LC President Thierry Valle reports from the 62nd UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva, where Amhara demonstrators gathered at the Broken Chair to demand action against genocide and attacks on Orthodox churches. The article covers MEP advocacy in Brussels, CAP LC’s multi-year engagement on Ethiopia, and calls for reinstating the UN Commission of Human Rights Experts with an expanded mandate.
This report examines how media functions as a systemic vector of religious persecution across three contexts: France’s institutional stigmatization, Pakistan’s state-controlled persecution of Ahmadi Muslims, and digital platforms’ unregulated religious intolerance. Using a Public Health approach, it provides evidence-based recommendations for the OHCHR, states, and platforms to dismantle media-driven persecution.
At the 61st session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, CAP Liberté de Conscience submitted a written statement raising serious concerns over the threatened dissolution of the Shincheonji Church and other minority religious organizations in the Republic of Korea. The document condemns efforts by President Lee Jae Myung to disband groups labeled as “pseudo-religions,” arguing that such state actions violate Article 18 of the ICCPR by allowing the government to act as a theological arbiter. CAP LC challenges the cited Japanese precedent, noting UN Special Rapporteurs’ criticism of dissolution orders based on vague concepts of “public welfare.” The statement further refutes claims of “enormous damage,” highlighting the Supreme Court’s acquittal of Shincheonji regarding COVID-19 allegations and the lack of coercive elements in its past evangelism methods. Consequently, CAP LC urges the Korean authorities to respect freedom of religion or belief and cease discriminatory campaigns driven by religious intolerance.
On November 22, 2024, a horrifying incident of religious persecution unfolded in Kot Karam Bakhsh, Sialkot, revealing the systematic marginalization of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Pakistan. According to the International Human Rights Committee (IHRC) incident report, approximately 150 extremists from Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), accompanied by local police, launched a coordinated attack on a 70-year-old Ahmadiyya mosque.
