Legal framework Under Article 36 of the Constitution, the state protects all ‘normal’ religious activities. The five officially-recognised religious traditions – Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism – are overseen by seven state-sanctioned associations. In reality, ‘normal’ religious activities refers to those carried out by religious communities registered with these associations. There is no space […]
General Briefing: China (2024) Read More »
A group of lawyers, human rights activists and religious leaders have released an open statement decrying the Chinese government’s systematic violation of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) by accusing house churches not registered under the government of being illegal, and declaring that offerings made to these churches are therefore fraudulent. The statement, published on X (formerly Twitter) on
Wang Qiang has never met his son. His wife was seven months pregnant when he was violently arrested outside his workplace in Linfen, China on 1 November 2022, and he has not seen his family – including also his four-year-old daughter Mimi – since then.
The case of Linfen Covenant Home Church (Part 3) Read More »
Xixi hasn’t seen her father Han Xiaodong since he was arrested in August 2022. She was just five years old at the time, and she and her two younger brothers have been afraid to sleep in their own beds ever since.
The case of Linfen Covenant Home Church (Part 2) Read More »
Preacher Li Jie and his wife Li Shanshan were among the earliest members of Covenant Home (“Shengyue Jiayuan”) Church which was founded in early 2018, the same year that the revised Regulations on Religious Affairs came into force and the Chinese government began a sweeping crackdown on unregistered ‘house’ churches like Covenant Home which continues to date.
The case of Linfen Covenant Home Church (Part 1) Read More »
During HRC55, CSW delivered an oral statement, raising its concerns over Vietnam’s targeted violations against religious and ethnic minorities and China’s crackdown on religion or belief groups and human rights defenders.
HRC55: Oral statement during General Debate under Item 4 Read More »
Today, we pay tribute to Cao Shunli’s legacy, one that has inspired countless human rights defenders in China and abroad. We urge UN Member States to call for a full, independent, impartial investigation into her death. We reaffirm that no perpetrator of reprisals, no matter how powerful, is above scrutiny, and that reprisals are fundamentally incompatible with the values of the United Nations and of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On the tenth anniversary of the death of Cao Shunli, the international community must honour her memory by standing up for all human rights defenders in China who have followed in her footsteps and incurred the wrath of the CCP as a result.
Today 16 international experts in freedom of religion or belief have expressed “profound and grave concerns” about the implications of the new Article 23 security law Hong Kong’s government is currently pushing through. It directly threatens religious freedom, and in particular the confidentiality of the Sacrament of Penance (otherwise known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation or “Confession”) in the Catholic Church.
Joint statement on the religious freedom implications of Article 23 legislation Read More »
The Chinese government has reportedly detained more than 1,000 Tibetans amidst protests over a dam project that would force two villages to relocate and destroy six Buddhist monasteries in southwestern China’s Sichuan Province.
Mass detention of Tibetans trying to save monasteries Read More »
