European Parliament denounces persecution of religious minorities worldwide
ECR Group at the EP (15.03.2022) – https://bit.ly/3s39Zs9 – Today, the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee adopted ECR rapporteur Karol Karski’s own-initiative report on the persecution of minorities on the grounds of faith or religion. In the text, MEPs support and protect the rights of persecuted believers around the world, pointing out that the level of violence in some regions may constitute crimes against humanity or even genocide.
“I am glad that my report has received such broad support, because it touches on a very serious problem. Research shows that freedom of religion or belief is violated in nearly one-third of all countries in the world, and more than 5 billion people live in countries that mandate or tolerate serious violations of freedom of religion or belief,” said Karski following the vote.
Karski would have liked the report to have gone a step further by naming the actors in the persecution of believers:
“In my opinion, we should also have exposed the main perpetrators in the persecution of believers and the countries in which religious minorities are most oppressed, but unfortunately we didn’t find a common approach here.”
As a result of amendments introduced by left-wing MEPs, the report’s focus shifted from presenting specific examples of religious groups, particularly Christians, as the group most affected by persecution, to a more general approach. “That’s a shame, because I think there’s enough evidence of gross violations of the rights of people belonging to the four largest religious groups in the world: Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, to name just these,” Karol Karski said.
The document was adopted by a majority of 59 in favour, 1 vote against and 13 abstentions.
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