IARF Applauds Rejection of Bill to Repeal FGM Ban in The Gambia
IARF applauds The Gambia’s rejection of the bill to repeal the FGM ban. This decision upholds crucial protections for women and girls, aligning with international human rights standards. The 2015 ban on Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) remains a significant milestone in the global effort to eradicate this harmful practice. IARF continues to support human rights and bodily integrity worldwide.
Bahrain: Continued Harassment of Activists by the Government
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) expressed it’s concern about continued harassment of human rights activists by the Bahrain authorities and restricting their right to free expression. Sheikh Maytham al-Salman, a noted spokesperson, human rights defender and chairman of the Bahrain Interfaith Center, our associate member organization, together with several other persons, was summoned […]
Persecution of Unitarians in Burundi
The International Council of Unitarians and Universalists, many of whose member churches are also members of the IARF – has reported on November 19 that Rev. Fulgence Ndagijimana, pastor of the Unitarian Church of Burundi, was arrested from the church at gunpoint, taken into police custody and interrogated severely, regarding the activities of his church …. was threatened with physical harm […]
Bahrain: Arrest of Inter-Faith Activist and Head of IARF Member Group Maytham Al Salman
On Saturday 8th August 2015, Sheikh Maytham Al Salman, chairman of the Bahrain Interfaith Centre, an Associate member group of the IARF, and Head of the Religious Freedom Unit in the Bahrain Human Rights Observatory (BHRO), was detained at Manama international airport, charged with “inciting hatred against the regime”. The Sheikh has been detained before. We wrote about this […]
Side Events at UN HRC 2014
Two events organised by IARF at the 25th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), March 2014 Side Event ‘Rise of Religious Intolerance’ Monday, 10 March 2014 – 2:00 to 4:00 PM Room XXV, Palais des Nations, Geneva UN HRC Side Event ‘Rise of Religious Intolerance’ – Flyer (PDF, 1 page) Discussion on the rise of […]
Member group leader detained
On Thursday 5th December 2013, Sheikh Maytham Al Salman, Head of the Religious Freedom Unit in the Bahrain Human Rights Observatory (BHRO), and chairman of the Bahrain Interfaith Centre, an Associate member group of the IARF, was summoned to Al Hoora police station by the investigation unit of the Ministry of Interior Affairs, Manama. For […]
Bahrain: government violations during Ashura season 2013
Press Conference on Religious Freedom Violations during Ashura (November 2013) The Department for Religious Freedom in the Bahrain Human Rights Observatory has expressed its strong condemnation of the escalation of the pace of systematic violations on religious freedom in Bahrain during Ashura (November 2013), and the increasing number of official violations carried out by government […]
Bangladesh attacks on Hindus condemned
“Dear Peace Loving People of the World, The Executive Communities of International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), United Religions Initiative (URI) and Religions for Peace (RfP) Bangladesh in an emergency joint meeting condemned with the strongest possible language against the atrocities done towards the Hindu communities in the recent past particularly, on the 2nd November, 2013 […]
British Chapter committee member elected to IFN-UK Executive
1 July 2013The British Chapter of IARF has congratulated committee member Derek McAuley on his election to the Executive Committee of the Inter Faith Network for the United Kingdom. The Inter Faith Network plays a key role in promoting good relations between people of different faiths in this country and advancing public knowledge and mutual […]
EU Guidelines on FoRB Promotion & Protection
On 24 June 2013, the Council of the European Union adopted the Guidelines on the Promotion and Protection of Freedom of Religion or Belief, and said the EU will: recall at all appropriate occasions that laws that criminalize blasphemy restrict expression concerning religious or other beliefs; that they are often applied so as to persecute, […]