UN rights panel hears concerns about discrimination against Christians in Europe

A recent resolution by the European Parliament noted that anti-Christian persecution is usually most severe within the land of its birth, the Middle East. Now nonetheless, a UN event has heard in regards to the situation in Europe itself, where religious freedom can be under threat.

The UN Human Rights Council held a side event which, for the primary time, specifically checked out the problem of persecution and discrimination against Christians.

One of the panellists on the event was Anja Tang, the chief director of the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC). OIDAC recently warned of an increase in anti-Christian hate crimes, noting that arson attacks on churches in Europe appear to becoming more common.

Tang said the religious freedom for Christians in Europe was threatened by a two-pronged attack of Islamist violence from below and state restriction from above.

As examples she pointed to the murder of Aushur Sarnaya by Islamists in France and the continued case against Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen, who has been dragged through the courts for seven years over a tweet that quoted the Bible.

Tang said, “Several European governments targeted individuals through criminal procedures for peacefully expressing their religious beliefs.”

Also speaking on the event was Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, an Apostolic Nuncio who represents the Vatican to the UN in Geneva.

The archbishop said that religious freedom represented a fundamental human right that is crucial in respecting human dignity. He raised the problem of anti-Christian hate crime in Europe and the broader world, warning of “polite persecution” wherein Christians and their views are quietly forced out of the general public square either by social pressure or the iron hand of the law.

In January the European Parliament passed a resolution reaffirming its commitment to tackling anti-Christian prejudice.

The resolution stated: “Christianity stays essentially the most persecuted religion on the planet today, with greater than 380 million people affected, there isn’t a European coordinator liable for combating Christianophobia, although a coordinator has been appointed to combat Islamophobia.”