CHENNAI, INDIA – They work in brick kilns, quarries, fisheries, fields, forests, and factories. They look like any other laborers. But they are different. They are slave labor. According to an International Justice Mission (IJM) Fact Sheet, 40.3 million people are held as forced-labor slaves around the world. Twenty-five percent are children. Nearly half of…
On Feb. 7, more than 300 children in South Sudan were released from being child soldiers. Al Jazeera news network reports, “The 311 children, including 87 girls, will now begin reintegrating into their communities, the UN mission in the country (UNMISS) said in a statement on Wednesday.” These children lost their innocence at a very…
Sudan is ranked as one of the top five countries in which Christians face the most significant persecution. The war-torn country has been named “A Country of Particular Concern” by the U.S. State Department since 1999 due to the persecution of Christians and widespread human rights issues. After South Sudan seceded in 2011 after one…
WASHINGTON – Earlier this month, we reported that confirmation of President Trumps nominee for the position of U.S. Ambassador-at-Large, Kansas governor, Sam Brownback had been stalled in the Senate. The president had nominated Brownback in July 2017. The nomination expired when Congress adjourned for the holidays without voting on the matter. President Trump resubmitted Brownback’s…
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Commercial Appeal) – Church Health, a medical clinic with a Christian mission, operates the Perea Preschool in the poorest of poor neighborhoods of North Memphis, Tennessee, where 90% of the population lives below the federal poverty level. Using Abeka teaching materials, the preschool introduces three-to-five-year-old children to basic educational needs and how to…
LA PAZ, Bolivia – The National Association of Evangelicals in Bolivia (NAEB) has formed a National Energy Commission in response to the inclusion of Article 88.11 in the country’s new Penal Code. “Whoever recruits, transports, deprives of freedom or hosts people with the aim of recruiting them to take part in armed conflicts or religious…
On Dec. 19, the first refugees from Libya arrived in Paris after France made a declaration to help those caught in a present-day slave trade. CNN reported that the French government “stepped up its fight against slavery as the first group of refugees rescued from Libya touched down Tuesday in Paris from Niger.” France is…
JAKARTA, Indonesia – The Indonesian government extended protection for Christians throughout the country and reduced jail sentences for Christians currently confined in penal institutions. Over 180,000 officers were deployed by the National Police and Indonesian Military (TNI) to protect Christians as they gathered to celebrate the birth of Christ. Reports indicate that believers were able…
A Hindu woman, Anita Masih, traveling to Delhi with six other Christians, stopped in Mathura at the request of her sister Valmiki. She had asked the group to pause on their journey to come to her home to pray for her sick husband. While the Valmiki was gathering water for her guests, a mob of…
The United Nations is doing an investigation to see whether the treatment of the Rohingya amounts to human rights violations. Per CNN, “Tens of thousands of members of Myanmar’s Muslim minority have left in this fashion, and their treatment may amount to ‘crimes against humanity,’ warns UN Special Rapporteur Yanghee Lee.” About 70,000 people have…
Photo by TonySKTO President Xi Jinping came to power in China late 2012. In this time, religious persecution has increased. Per CNN, “Since President Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, Freedom House said, the scale of religious oppression has increased at all levels of society, despite widespread resistance from believers of all stripes.”…
Photo by Samoano One child named Rosmaida Bibi was born in a Rohingya refugee camp. She is malnourished and hasn’t grown like most children her age do. Per Fox News, “Ever since she was born in this squalid camp for displaced members of Myanmar’s ethnic Rohingya minority, Rosmaida Bibi has struggled to do something most…
There has been resistance in Italy to migrants trying to enter the country from Libya, despite pressure from the European Union to allow those migrants to enter the country. Part of the reason Italy doesn’t want to allow Libyan migrants to enter the country, is to keep smugglers from coming in. Per Fox News, “Italy…
Photo by Roberdan Migrants who are trying to reach Europe are caught and sold into slavery in Libya. Per The Guardian, “The north African nation is a major exit point for refugees from Africa trying to take boats to Europe. But since the overthrow of autocratic leader Muammar Gaddafi, the vast, sparsely populated country has…
Photo by Willyman In March, a children’s shelter in Guatemala’s capital was set on fire during a riot. Per BBC, “Guatemalan media report that the riot erupted as a result of alleged sexual abuse by staff and frustration with the poor conditions.” While they were rioting, mattresses in the home caught fire. The Guardian reports,…
Two Presbyterian pastors are on trial in the Republic of the Sudan on charges of waging war against the state, espionage, and undermining Sudan’s constitutional system. Each faces the death penalty if convicted. Sudan is holding two others, Czech aid worker Petr Jasek and Darfuri human rights activist Abduelmoneim Abdulmawla, on charges…
Turkey’s federal government has detained nearly 80,000 military, police and civil service employees after a failed coup attempt this summer that resulted in more than 270 deaths and the shutdown of more than 130 news outlets. The purge, ordered by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, included military, media, education and justice sectors, as reported by The…
The 167 million “untouchable’ Dalits of India continue to face widespread abuse and discrimination with little hope for their human rights, according to the Dalit Network. This abuse and neglect has happened for 3,000 years as the rest of India view them “only to be slaves, to be broken and crushed.” In Chandigarh, a 21-year-old…
“Right now there is another group of people, 250 million strong, for whom the door of opportunity is wide open. Slaves in their own nation of India for 3,000 years, Dalits (“Untouchables”) have been segregated, oppressed and denied basic human rights such as health care, education and access to safe drinking water – all because…
China’s President Xi Jinping has ramped up the persecution of Christian pastors and lay leaders while removing crosses and even destroying church buildings that the state had sanctioned. Pastor Joseph Gu Yuese from the Zhejiang province was leading a 10,000 member state-approved church when the government recently jailed him on embezzlement charges. The pastor had…
