by Alessandro Amicarelli — Rev. Jesse Jackson's death feels, for many of us, like the end of a long season in the history of civil rights in the United States. For over fifty years, he was a famous name and a regular presence on television. Someone people expected to see turning up at times of protests, rallies, and anytime marginalised communities needed help and support. For this reason, most people still associate his face first and foremost with the civil rights movement. And religious freedom for Rev. Jackson was part of those battles, a pillar of human dignity.

Good news from Pakistan. The Punjab government has issued an ordinance effective immediately, setting the minimum marriage age for both boys and girls at 18. Violations of the law are now classified as prosecutable, non-bailable, and non-reconcilable offenses. The law applies to all Pakistanis, both Muslims and non-Muslims. The intent is to eliminate the barbaric practice of conversions and forced marriages perpetrated by Muslims to which young women (often minors who are still children) belonging to Christian and Hindu minorities are subjected.

On October 28, 2021, the Supreme Court of Russia ruled that Jehovah's Witnesses who pray in groups are not committing a crime and therefore cannot be prosecuted, opening a loophole in Article 282.2 of the controversial Yarovaya Law. Now, the Russian political party New People, founded in January 2020 and considered “liberal,” has proposed draft laws in 2024 and 2025 aimed at restricting religious services, rites, and ceremonies within residential and non-residential buildings, thus limiting several inalienable freedoms, as illustrated in the following article by Human Rights Without Frontiers.

This innovative volume (Religion in Modern Education: Conflict, Economics, and Politics) explores the socio-political intersection of education with religion in modern society. The chapters of the book cover a range of case studies including Christian education, Jewish education, Islamic and Asian religious perspectives, as well as their interaction with a variety of ideological and political concerns.

Reports are emerging of an ongoing, massive campaign by Chinese police to crack down and arrest hundreds of Chinese house church members in Taishun County, Wenzhou City, in Zhejiang Province.

The latest crackdown on China’s house churches occurred between Dec. 13-18. Local witnesses reported via social media and other networks of multiple checkpoints, roving police patrols, and cash rewards being posted for the capture of house church leaders.

Washington, DC – The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reiterates its call for the Trump administration to include Egypt on the Special Watch List. Earlier this month, an Egyptian court sentenced a Christian man, Augustin Samaan, to five years’ imprisonment for ‘contempt of religion,’ based on Egypt’s blasphemy law.

FOB has been following the vicissitudes of MISA Yoga, Gregorian Bivolaru and the Stoian couple, and notes with regret that, despite the passing of the years, these vicissitudes have still not been resolved. The result is that some people have been imprisoned on charges that are as specious as they are defamatory, in line with the anti-cult ideology of the MIVILUDES and its acolytes.

On January 23, the Alliance for Democracy and Religious Freedom convened an emergency press conference outside Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office in central Seoul, formally announcing its establishment. The coalition includes civic and religious organizations from across South Korea and approximately 100 participants, including Buddhist, Christian, and Muslim leaders, legal professionals, university professors, and civil society advocates.

HRWF — It will soon be three years since Strasbourg ruled that Belgium’s system of state recognition of religions and belief communities was incompatible with international standards. Brussels goes on turning a deaf ear and does not make any proposal.

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor — Five Iranian Christians have been sentenced to a combined 50 years in prison for religious activities, including prayer, baptism and distributing Bibles, according to watchdog organizations. All five, including two previously imprisoned men and three women, were convicted by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court under amended articles of Iran’s penal code, according to Article 18, a United Kingdom-based organization that monitors religious freedom in Iran.

On December 10, 2025, to mark the 77^th World Human Rights Day, the Tibetan Community in Switzerland & Liechtenstein (TCSL) held a rally and march along the lakeside near Palais Wilson in Geneva, Switzerland. The event aimed to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, to speak out for those still fighting for fundamental freedoms under CCP authoritarian oppression, and denounce the CCP’s brutal persecution of religious beliefs and human rights.

by Alessandro Amicarelli — Earlier this year, during a visit to South Korea, I had the pleasure of visiting the headquarters of New Heaven New Earth – Shincheonji Church of Jesus, where I also had the honour of meeting Chairman Lee.

It was likewise a genuine pleasure to attend in London The Greatest Gift, a beautifully staged musical organised by Shincheonji UK. The production brought together members of the community who offered their time, talent, and dedication to create this impressive and uplifting event greatly appreciate by the community and the numerous guests.

The Treccani encyclopedic dictionary defines the neologism post-truth as "an argument, characterized by a strong appeal to emotion, which, being based on widespread beliefs rather than verified facts, tends to be accepted as truthful, thus influencing public opinion." During the TV program "Galà dei 500" broadcast yesterday evening, December 17, 2025, on Canale 5 TV, host Piero Chiambretti asked his guest, movie director Gabriele Muccino, who was recounting a visit to Tom Cruise's home: "But when you looked in the house, did you see any traces of Scientology there, at the house of ..., was there a small altar?"

December 10 is the International Human Rights Day celebration, established to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. 77 years have passed since then. However, although the declaration has been signed by all UN member states, and. almost all countries in the world (193), its implementation is still lacking and human rights violations are a daily source of unspeakable crimes.

by Fang Yongrui — He traveled to Korea’s Jeju Island with friends. Nobody escaped. All returned. But it was enough to go to jail.

It begins, as so many Chinese legal dramas do, with a perfectly ordinary act. A pastor buys a plane ticket, passes through customs, and takes his friends to South Korea’s Jeju Island—a visafree paradise better known for honeymooners than dissidents. They return home, suntanned and unscathed. Months later, the pastor is in shackles, accused of “organizing others to cross the national border illegally.”

Washington D.C. — The U.S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reiterates it’s call for the U.S. government to work with Pakistani officials to take measurable steps to amend or repeal its blasphemy law. Recently the Pakistani government banned the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP). The TLP has incited violent mobs to intimidate and attack religious minorities, even calling for the death penalty as punishment for violating blasphemy laws. This impacts members of the Christians, Ahmadiyya Muslims, and others.

LAHORE, PAKISTAN (1 December 2025) — At its annual meeting in Lahore, Minority Concern urged the Government of Pakistan to take concrete steps toward building a pluralistic and inclusive society by actively promoting Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s landmark address to the first Constituent Assembly on 11 August 1947, delivered just three days before the creation of Pakistan.

Increasingly, countries have, or are legislating, instruments to ban the import of products made by forced labour. These include the US, Canada and Mexico. The EU Forced Labour Regulation, which bans the sale, import and export of goods made using forced labour, is the most recent piece of such statute. Given that the EU single market is currently the world’s largest consumer market, the Regulation has the potential to influence business practices globally, to prevent, end or mitigate forced labour, and to stop companies profiting from forced labour in their supply chains.

Faisalabad, Pakistan (24 November 2025) — During the annual gathering of Minority Concern’s Faisalabad chapter, the organisation expressed deep concern over persistent reports of forced conversions and coerced marriages of underage Christian girls in Pakistan, calling for urgent and coordinated action by Pakistani authorities, international human rights bodies, and civil society organisations.

Christian Daily International — Rights activists urged the European Union to investigate widespread human rights violations in Pakistan, including persecution of religious minorities, ahead of a review starting Monday (Nov. 24) by a key EU mission monitoring the country’s eligibility for preferential trade terms.