In Pursuit of Criminal Accountability for “Grievous Religious Persecution”

Werner Nicolaas Nel is a senior lecturer in law at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa, and author of the book Grievous religious persecution: A conceptualisation of crimes against humanity of religious persecution

Introduction

Particular incidences of religious persecution are, because of their scale, severity, and discriminatory motivation, so heinous that they result in severe deprivations of fundamental human rights and are justifiably categorized as crimes against humanity of religious persecution, coined “grievous religious persecution”. In recent years several situations emerged of mass-discriminatory atrocities committed against communities based on their religious beliefs, such as the Yazidis in Iraq, Christian minorities in the Middle East and Nigeria, and Muslim Rohingyas in Myanmar.

Given the inviolability of human dignity, such occurrences have justifiably generated a global moral outcry, demanding that the international community properly address such grave injustices and end impunity. Contrary to the current political climate of resignation and collective cynicism regarding the aspirations of the International Criminal Court (ICC), I argue that international criminal law may proceed in representation of the conscience of humankind by holding criminally accountable, those responsible for religious persecution, and help prevent future occurrences of these crimes.

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Myanmar: No Religious Liberty in an Unequal Milieu

Farzana Mahmood is an advocate of Bangladesh Supreme Court and one of the co-founders and Executive Director of Bangladesh Manobadhikar O Poribesh Andolon Foundation (BAMAPA), an NGO dedicated to uphold and promote the basic human rights and environment rights of the peoples of the Bangladesh

The conditions of religious minorities in Myanmar especially, Christians (6.2 percent, particularly Chin, Kachin, Karen people), Muslims (4.3 percent, Rohingya, Malay), and Hindus (0.5 percent, mainly Burmese Indians) deteriorated with the military coup in 1962. During the successive five brutal decades following the coup, the military exploited the religious and ethnic diversity of the country and ruled by dividing the communities, pitting Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims against each other.

However, with the onset of civilian governments in 2011, the conditions of the religious and ethnic minorities in the country failed to improve. In 2017, more than 750,000 Rohingya Muslim minorities of the Rakhine state fled Myanmar to Bangladesh when the military started destroying and burning houses, killing Rohingyas, and raping their women.

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Understanding Hindu-Christian Relations: The World Council of Churches’ Approach

Melanie Barbato is a post-doc researcher at the University of Münster

There are two tricky subjects in Hindu-Christian relations: Christian missionary efforts are a red flag for many Hindus, and anti-Christian violence by Hindus is recognized as one of India’s main issues of freedom of religion and belief. These two issues are connected, with accusations of proselytization typically being the background for acts of anti-Christian violence.

The Roots of Hindu Criticism towards Christianity 

It is important to understand this critical Hindu perspective on Christianity. Hindus object to Christian missions for various reasons. Foremost is that the Indian traditions do not share the Western concept of religion as an individualized faith. From the Hindu perspective, a person is born into a cosmic order that includes both religious and social duties. Hindu identity can be considered more like a family relationship one is born into—one neither opts-in nor out. Hindus tend to be tolerant towards people who also hold additional non-Hindu beliefs or participate in activities outside their Hindu culture, with dual belonging being a normal part of Indian culture. Converts to Christianity, however, are often asked by their missionary contacts to leave their old religious identity behind, and this is seen by many Hindus as a direct act of aggression against their religion and traditional way of life.

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