wfn.org | Pakistan: blasphemy laws 'a source of victimization and persecution of minorities'

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Update 03-15
For Immediate Use 
14 April 2003

Pakistan: blasphemy laws "a source of victimization and persecution of
minorities"

Cf. Press Release, PR-03-12 of 19 March 2003

Religious intolerance and discrimination on the basis of religion, with
special emphasis on the situation in Pakistan and that country's blasphemy
laws, was highlighted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at the current
(59th) session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in a
joint oral intervention submitted on 11 April with other organizations under
Agenda Item 11: Civil and Political rights: Religious intolerance.  

"In some countries," states the intervention, "religious discrimination is
inscribed in laws and imbedded in societal structures." The example given is
Pakistan's blasphemy laws 295 B and C, whose violation brings severe
punishment, including the death penalty. "This has resulted over the years in
religious intolerance and violence against Christians, Hindus and members of
the Ahmadiye community, the imposition of discriminatory and repressive laws
against religious minorities and extremist attacks against religious
minorities, especially Christians," the intervention affirms. 

The laws in their present form are "a source of victimization and persecution
of the minorities in Pakistan" who are often falsely accused, the
intervention continues. Even though vaguely defined, blasphemy carries a
mandatory death sentence when against the prophet. As a result, "many of the
accused are killed, in some cases even before they are brought to trial".
Furthermore, "it has become virtually impossible to get a fair hearing" for
those charged under these laws in the prevalent environment of intolerance
and of pressure exercised on the judiciary, the intervention states. 

The joint oral intervention calls on the government of Pakistan to "repeal
all discriminatory laws, including the blasphemy laws"; "ratify the human
rights treaties that it has not yet ratified"; "invite the [UN] special
rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief to visit Pakistan"; and "take
even stronger measures to protect the lives, property, respect and honour of
minorities". 

The full text of the intervention is available on delivery on our website at:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/pakistan-03.html 

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office, 
tel: +41 (0)22 791 64 21 / 61 53

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 100 countries in all continents from virtually all Christian
traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member church but works
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Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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