Introduction
Refugees from Sudan attend church services in a refugee camp in newly independent South Sudan in July 2012. After the south voted for independence in 2011, following a 22-year civil war, thousands of Sudanese Christians in the largely Muslim north fled south, where the new constitution protects religious freedom. Sudan's imposition of draconian Islamic law, or Sharia, sparked the war. (Getty Images/Paula Bronstein)
|
Nearly 75 percent of the world's inhabitants — 5.1 billion people — live in countries that restrict religious freedom, a fundamental human right under international law. Draconian antiblasphemy laws, threats of imprisonment, physical attacks and the desecration of holy sites are among the tools used to stifle religious expression. Many foreign policy experts see religious oppression as a serious threat to global stability. Advocates in the United States are pushing policymakers to make religious freedom a higher priority, arguing that promoting it abroad will help defuse tensions and foster peace and democracy. But others say that making religion a focus of foreign policy is a mistake because it is too complex and volatile an issue. Meanwhile, some countries, such as newly independent South Sudan, have taken noteworthy steps to broaden religious rights.
|
|
|
 |
Nov. 01, 2013 |
Religious Repression |
 |
May 17, 2013 |
Assisted Suicide |
 |
Oct. 16, 2012 |
Human Trafficking and Slavery |
 |
Sep. 20, 2011 |
Saving Indigenous Peoples |
 |
Oct. 30, 2009 |
Human Rights Issues |
 |
Jul. 25, 2008 |
Human Rights in China |
 |
Mar. 26, 2004 |
Human Trafficking and Slavery |
 |
Apr. 30, 1999 |
Women and Human Rights |
 |
Nov. 13, 1998 |
Human Rights |
 |
Jul. 19, 1985 |
Human Rights in the 1980s |
 |
May 18, 1979 |
Human Rights Policy |
 |
Apr. 03, 1968 |
Human Rights Protection |
 |
Mar. 21, 1956 |
Forced Labor and Slavery |
 |
Apr. 27, 1949 |
Forced Labor |
 |
Jan. 25, 1945 |
Bills of Rights |
| | |
|