Restrictions have violated freedoms to practice faith
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom warned that some countries have used COVID-19 restrictions to discriminate against religious minorities or blame them for the spread of the virus.
USCIRF, a bipartisan commission tasked with informing Congress and the federal government about global religious freedom concerns, released its 2021 annual report detailing the international religious freedom conditions in a year plagued by a pandemic.
The cover of this year’s report, which details where religious freedom is “improving or in peril,” features a globe shrouded in a face mask, showing the worldwide implications the pandemic had.
USCIRF Chair Gayle Manchin said at a press conference that though public health measures in most countries to slow the spread of COVID-19 complied with international human rights standards, some countries used these measures to discriminate against religious minorities.
“Unfortunately, it had a negative impact in many ways …,” she said. “What we found to be unacceptable were where minorities were targeted in much stricter fashion, and their activities were restricted much more harshly than other religions across the country, and that’s where the problem arose.”
“Also, there were countries that literally blamed the COVID-19 virus on a particular religion, [claiming] that they were responsible for the spread of that virus across their country,” she continued.
Some countries used the pandemic as an “excuse” to “punish and penalize” minority religious groups.
“While many of these restrictions were justifiable under public health exceptions defined in international law, some restrictions harmed religious minorities or otherwise violated freedom of religion or belief,” the report reads.
Where certain religions were targeted or blamed for causing the spread of the virus, there was a greater risk of being arrested and placed in prison or “deplorable conditions.”
“As the restrictions are lifted, we will be watching very closely to make sure that those restrictions are being lifted fairly across the country to all religions,” Manchin said.
One example is Malaysia, where “non-Muslim houses of worship, including Hindu temples and Christian churches, were not prioritized for reopening and faced different reopening times than mosques.” Additionally, the country banned refugees and migrants from entering mosques.
In Turkey, an individual attempted to “set fire” to an Armenian church for “bringing the coronavirus.”
The commission reported that “the pandemic also fostered a wave of misinformation targeting religious minorities.”
MORE: https://www.christianpost.com/news/some-covid-19-restrictions-harmed-religious-minorities-uscirf.html?uid=f1f5a81e89&utm_source=The+Christian+Post+List&utm_campaign=CP-Newsletter&utm_medium=email
Pray for all persecuted Christians throughout the world
Pray for governments and leaders, that they show wisdom and good judgment in these difficult times
Pray for those in prison for their faith, that they may know the sustaining presence of Jesus alongside them
Pray that God’s justice will rain down in the darkest places
COVID-19 has harmed girls' education
Before COVID-19, the longstanding educational disadvantage for women had been declining and even led, in some cases, to a 'reverse' gap where girls were outperforming boys in enrollment rates and learning outcomes.
However, evidence suggests that the pandemic may slow or reverse these gains, through factors such as an increased risk of dropping out of school.
Action is needed immediately to reverse these losses and ensure girls around the world return to school.
The returns to schooling are especially high for women. That is, the earnings increment associated with more education is in fact higher for women than for men. One additional year of schooling and women’s wages go up 12% (compared with 10% for men).
However, the schooling gains of girls and women are under threat. Prior to the COVID-19-induced school closures, girls were staying in school longer and learning more than at any other time. The longstanding disadvantage for girls in terms of enrollment had been declining. In some cases, this led to a “reverse gap” where girls outperform boys in both enrollment rates and learning outcomes – a female learning premium.
COVID-19 may put a temporary halt to this progress. COVID-19-induced school closures may slow or reverse these gains and may further prevent girls and women from realizing the potential returns – representing a “hidden” future cost. Urgent action is needed to ensure that girls and women can realize the returns to their schooling.
The World Bank is forecasting lower levels of schooling, learning, and future earnings because of school closures due to COVID-19. Learning loss is expected and predicted. Recent evidence from several countries shows that the COVID-19 slide is real. For women and girls, who are already being significantly negatively affected by the pandemic, there is a particular risk in the realm of education.
The pandemic puts girls at an increased risk of:
- Dropping out of school
- Being vulnerable to domestic violence and other Gender-Based Violence (GBV)
- Child marriage
- Early pregnancy
- Being exploited as child labor
UNESCO has projected that 11 million girls may never return to school following the pandemic.
What can be done, what might work?
Remote learning was a useful action in the Spring of 2020; but it’s not the answer now. Rather, we need to open schools – safely – in order to mitigate and reverse learning losses and get girls back in school. For many girls, especially the youngest, the learning lost during the pandemic can be limited and even reversed by improving distance education during school closures and by implementing learning recovery programs such as Teach to the Right Level and High Dosage Tutoring, which the evidence has shown to be effective. However, for older girls, the risk of dropping out is real, and they may leave school before their learning losses can be recovered, unless innovative programs are put in place in a timely manner.
The risk of dropping out needs to be addressed right away by providing extra support to students and their families to ensure that they stay in school, making sure to target girls as being at a high risk of dropout and learning losses. Targeted support may also be needed to overcome constraints specific to girls, especially adolescent girls. For example, the Keeping Girls in School Program in Zambia provides cash transfers to families of adolescent girls so they can afford to keep their daughters in school and has set up an early warning system to identify girls at risk of dropping out and of other vulnerabilities.
Organizations and communities can work to ensure students continue their education while at home but at the same time ensure that they are receiving other crucial services as well, so they do not lose momentum.
The role of government is key. Progress will only come when they are able to implement at scale, and once policymakers, business leaders, nonprofits, and individual communities work hand in hand.
More: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/04/covid-19-has-harmed-girls-education-here-s-what-needs-to-be-done/
Pray for equality of access for girls to education throughout the world
Pray for those organisations at the heart of efforts to bring education to girls in under-developed nations
Pray for teacher, educators and administrators that they may know wisdom in overcoming the devastation of the last 12 months
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny’s political network is disbanded ahead of court rulings declaring it an ‘extremist’ organisation.
A Moscow court is expected to ban the network’s crowdfunded work, which would put members and supporters at risk of six years in prison.
Leonid Volkov, the network’s former coordinator, said that keeping the work of Navalny’s network in its current form would lead immediately to extremism charges and criminal sentences for those helping or cooperating with it. He said the breakup was a ‘punch in the gut’ after four years of hard work in very difficult circumstances: ‘The networks had victories. We cancelled corrupt public procurement orders, secured the resignation of thieves and crooks, won elections, protected parks from development projects, and helped local activists. Now there are direct orders from the Kremlin to destroy the network of offices.’
The network’s website shtab.navalny.com was still accessible on 29 April, showing dozens of locations spanning eleven time zones.
Pray: for the dozens of regional politicians, thousands of supporters, and independent political organisations to remain strong as they organise investigations, and rallies. (Proverbs 21:15)
More: www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/04/29/navalny-dissolves-political-network-ahead-of-expected-extremist-ruling-a73774
It’s now nearly three months since the military coup in Myanmar. The junta has intensified its crackdown on protestors, with around 600 people now believed to have been killed. For the country’s minority Christian population, there continues to be fear – not just for their safety but of forced recruitment to the army. In this update, Christians in the country share experiences and fears, as well as gratitude for your ongoing prayers. All names have been changed to protect identities.
Given the communication restrictions in Myanmar, it’s hard to obtain information from Open Doors local partners in the country. When contact is made with believers, the fear and uncertainty speaks louder than their words.
“Every day I hear gunshots and sound grenades near my house,” shares Min Naing* from Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. “The sound comes only one bus stop away from my house. At night, most homes do not turn on lights after 8pm. And nobody makes any noise. This has been happening for about two weeks. Sometimes I hear gunshots in the evening and around midnight. We also stay indoors during the day. We cannot go out except for putting out rubbish and shopping for groceries. I live in the middle of Yangon without security. Please pray for the safety of me and my family.”
Pastor Kyaw* leads a church in a township where martial law is imposed. Because of the daily gunfire near the church building, it’s been impossible to organise church activities. “My wife has not been able to sleep for two weeks,” the pastor shares. “That’s why we fled to another town. When we arrived in the town, I had to flee again after two days, because the army was recruiting more soldiers.” Thankfully, the couple are now home and safe, but without internet. The pastor is concerned about not having access to the news.
Believers hiding in the forest
Others are also at risk of being forcibly enlisted into the army. “In a remote village, a pastor is leading a small church,” Brother Lwin*, an Open Doors local partner reports. “There are no soldiers or police in their village so regular prayers are held every night. Last week, the village chief was asked to recruit 30 men for the military in their village. Now the believers, including the pastor, are hiding in the forest.”
Brother Lwin and others live and work under enormous stress because of the uncertainty and rapidly changing situation. Nobody’s safety is guaranteed. But one thing is for sure: Brother Lwin and the other believers know they are not alone. “Thank you for standing with us during this crisis,” Brother Lwin shares. “We don’t know how or when this will be over. Please pray that the believers will stand strong in their faith, and non-believers – of who many are frustrated and hopeless, even with their own faith – will come to know the true and living God.”
*Names changed for safety of individuals
More at: https://www.opendoors.org.hk/en/christians-in-myanmar-fear-for-safety-and-forced-recruitment-to-army/
Pray for the violence and extra-judicial killings of peaceful protestors to stop.
Pray that the international diplomacy and sanctions along with the strong will of the people of Burma will bring the Junta to stand down and free the democratically elected leaders.
Pray that Beijing does not take advantage of this instability.
Pray in more depth using these resources: Prayer Guide | Operation World | Joshua Project | Open Doors
A vaccine against malaria has been shown to be highly effective in trials in Africa, holding out the real possibility of slashing the death toll of a disease that kills 400,000 mostly small children every year.
The vaccine, developed by scientists at the Jenner Institute of Oxford University, showed up to 77% efficacy in a trial of 450 children in Burkina Faso over 12 months.
The hunt for a malaria vaccine has been going on the best part of a century. One, the Mosquirix vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline, has been through lengthy clinical trials but is only partially effective, preventing 39% of malaria cases and 29% of severe malaria cases among small children in Africa over four years. It is being piloted by the World Health Organization in parts of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi.
The Oxford vaccine is the first to meet the WHO goal of 75% efficacy against the mosquito-borne parasite disease. Larger trials are now beginning, involving 4,800 children in four countries.
Prof Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute, where the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid vaccine was invented, said he believed the vaccine had the potential to cut the death toll dramatically. “What we’re hoping to do is take that 400,000 down to tens of thousands in the next five years, which would be absolutely fantastic.”
Other interventions, such as impregnated bednets and malarial drugs, have reduced the death toll from a million a year, he said, and those must continue. But, if the vaccine could cut deaths to the tens of thousands, they might be able to look towards “a greater goal – eventually eradicating malaria”.
Hill said the institute might apply for emergency approval for the malaria vaccine just as it did for the Covid jab. “I’m making the argument as forcefully as I can, that because malaria kills a lot more people than Covid in Africa, you should think about emergency-use authorisation for a malaria vaccine for use in Africa. And that’s never been done before.”
The institute would probably ask the regulatory bodies in Europe or the UK for a scientific opinion on the vaccine and then apply to the World Health Organization for approval for use in Africa. “They did Covid in months – why shouldn’t they do malaria in a similar length of time as the health problem is an even greater scale in Africa?” Hill said.
The vaccine will be manufactured at large scale and low-cost, say the researchers, who have arranged a deal with the Serum Institute of India, which is involved in manufacturing the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.
The Serum Institute has had to delay supplies of the Covid vaccine to the rest of the world because of the huge rise in cases in India, but has promised to deliver 200m doses a year of the malaria vaccine if it is licensed.
Hill said the best-case scenario was approval by the end of 2022, by which time the Serum Institute would have plenty of capacity.
Dr Cyrus Poonawalla and Adar Poonawalla, respectively chair and CEO of the Serum Institute, said in a statement that they were “highly excited to see these results on a safe and highly effective malaria vaccine which will be available to the whole world”. The project was through collaboration with Oxford and also Novavax, which is supplying the adjuvant, a substance that enhances the immune system response.
“We are highly confident that we will be able to deliver more than 200m doses annually in line with the strategy, as soon as regulatory approvals are available,” they said.
Gareth Jenkins, of Malaria No More UK, said: “We can end malaria in our generation but only if governments invest in the research needed to deliver the new medicines and products that can accelerate the end of this terrible disease.
“The Jenner Institute’s groundbreaking work on both the new Covid-19 and malaria vaccines is a great example of this and demonstrates just how much humanity’s safety is dependent on new science.
“An effective and safe malaria vaccine would be a hugely significant extra weapon in the armoury needed to defeat malaria, which still kills over 270,000 children every year. For decades British scientists have been at the forefront of developing new ways to detect, diagnose, test and treat malaria, and we must continue to back them.
“A world without malaria is a world safer both for the children who would otherwise be killed by this disease, and for us here at home. Countries freed from the malaria burden will be much better equipped to fight off new disease threats when they inevitably emerge in the future.”
MORE: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/23/oxford-malaria-vaccine-proves-highly-effective-in-burkina-faso-trial
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/quick-to-listen/malaria-vaccine-africa-mosquito-covid-19-podcast.html
Pray for all those who suffer from Malaria each year.
Pray for the many young children who endure suffering and death at the hands of this disease.
Pray with thanksgiving for the scientists working to eradicate this disease.
Pray for the success of the vaccine and that money and politics will not hinder successful distribution.
Pope Francis’ first-ever papal trip to Iraq marked a watershed moment in relations between the Catholic Church and the Middle East. Yet for all the optimism of the Pope’s message, his visit also serves to remind us that Christianity and other minority faiths of the region are facing dark times.
The Middle East is the cradle of the three Abrahamic faiths that have more than 4 billion adherents around the globe. The region remains home to some of the world’s most ancient languages, cultures and heritage sites.
Yet oppressive governments and violent extremist movements have been busy erasing the Middle East’s diverse religious communities. Today, Syria and Yemen have lost almost all of their Jews, while Turkey has done the same with its Chaldean Christians, ethnic Syriacs who follow the Catholic rite. Iraq’s Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking community that adheres to a long-persecuted ancient monotheistic faith narrowly escaped destruction during the Islamic State’s genocidal campaign. Iraq’s Mandaeans, followers of another indigenous Middle Eastern faith, also fear extinction.
Governments should take a stand to defend diversity and pluralism in the Middle East and beyond. Security assurances to protect embattled communities from future genocidal campaigns, substantial development aid for rebuilding them and support for inclusive institutions can all play a role.
Mideast religious minorities face a particularly potent threat from the insidious collaboration between authoritarian states and violent extremist groups, as proxy wars have come to replace conventional warfare between nation-states. The growing footprint of non-state actors has exacerbated the danger to religious minorities.
The Islamic State, for example, recruited foreign fighters from all corners of the globe as it targeted the Yazidi community with its genocidal campaign of mass executions, rape and enslavement. As the Economist recently noted, many Yazidis who escaped the immediate threat when the Islamic State was defeated militarily are still fighting for their survival.
Although Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad presents himself as the protector of minorities, especially Christians, he has executed and tortured critics regardless of their religion. The Assad regime’s indiscriminate massacre of its own citizens with barrel bombs and chemical weapons not only received financial support from Moscow and Tehran, but also utilized Russian private military contractors and Iran’s militias recruited all the way from Lebanon to Afghanistan.
In northern Syria, according to a report of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, Turkey’s proxies committed war crimes targeting Kurds and Yazidis, including hostage-taking, torture, rape and pillaging, in addition to violating international humanitarian law by looting and destroying cultural property.
Since Turkey’s failed coup attempt in 2016, the country’s increasingly authoritarian government intensified its scapegoating of Christians, Jews and Alevis (a Muslim minority). The revisionist historical dramas on Turkish state television have become the new means through which antisemitic, anti-Christian and anti-Western conspiracies are distributed in multiple languages around the world. Social media platforms compound the problem by amplifying hateful messages from state-funded media and the propaganda outlets of violent extremist groups.
Since the Iranian revolution, the Islamic republic has not only decimated the country’s Jewish community, taking its numbers from 100,000 to below 9,000, but also threatened to wipe the Jewish state off the “global political map.” Last year Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif went so far as to invoke the Nazi phrase “the final solution,” echoing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s vow to uproot and destroy the “cancerous tumor” of Israel. A new Anti-Defamation League study of Iranian textbooks found that the Islamic republic teaches antisemitism and incites schoolchildren against the Jewish people as well as the United States.
No scientific study, media report or opinion poll can give a more accurate account of the state of the Middle East’s minorities than demographic trends. As vulnerable minorities vote with their feet, we continue to witness a mass exodus of ancient communities. A 2019 report commissioned by the British foreign secretary warned that Iraq’s Christian population fell from 1.5 million before 2003 to possibly less than 120,000. Turkey’s Greek Orthodox, Jewish and Syriac Christian citizens are more likely to live in diasporas rather than in their original homes. Coptic Christians still number around 10 million in Egypt, but according to the Hudson Institute’s Samuel Tadros, the Coptic church is blossoming “outside Egypt’s borders.”
U.S. leadership and cooperation with transatlantic allies are imperative to reversing these alarming trends. As the Biden administration emphasizes making human rights central to U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East’s endangered religious minorities should be one of its priorities.
More: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/03/08/middle-easts-religious-minorities-are-facing-extinction-world-must-act/
Pray for persecuted Christians in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq, Turkey and Syria
Pray persecuted believers would know the hope God brings
Pray for international leadership from leading nations, that they may stand up for the oppressed and disempowered
Join millions of people from across the nations as we gather online for World Prayer Together / GO PRAY. We will worship and pray for the launch of GO MONTH – a month of evangelism calling every believer to be a witness! (Luke 10:2)
Throughout May 2021, many millions of people will be evangelizing - one to one, in public and through social media and we want to cover them in prayer!
'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.' Luke 10:2
Our primary prayer focus during the 2-hour program will be evangelism and gospel movements amongst the remaining unreached peoples of China, India and the Middle-East.
World Prayer Together is being convened by International Prayer Connect and GO Movement in association with IHOPKC, GOD.TV and numerous ministries around the world. It is part of a series of global prayer events under the World Prayer Together banner. GO PRAY is 1st May – and represents a day of united prayer for this month of mission.
Join us on May 1st! - We will be hosting this global prayer and worship event at IHOPKC, broadcasting on GODTV.
Inspirational Leaders…
The online prayer and worship gathering will be led by many inspirational prayer-leaders and teachers including: MK Bharti, Mike Bickle, Lou Engle, Dr Hormoz Shariat, Dr Jason Hubbard, Asher Intrater, Onassis Jeevaraj, Leslie Keegel, Daniel Lim, Werner Nachtigal & Eric Watt. Worship will be led by IHOPKC.
HOW TO JOIN US…
Saturday May 1st at 7.30pm in your region:
AUSTRALIA CLICK HERE 7.30PM SYDNEY
ASIA CLICK HERE 7.30PM DELHI
EUROPE CLICK HERE 7.30PM LONDON
AFRICA CLICK HERE 7.30PM JHB
USA CLICK HERE 7.30PM NEW YORK
Click your nearest city link above to Watch for free online. Also watch on Digital TV + GODTV APP
View on YouTube anytime from 7.30pm (UTC+1) May 1st
May 1st will be English language. The event will be re-broadcast online in multiple languages on May 7th at 12:00HRS UTC.
Join a dedicated 24 hours in the IHOPKC Global Prayer Room online from 4pm April 30th - 4pm May 1st
Full details, timings and links to the livestreams and GOD TV regional programmes are at www.worldprayertogether.com
DOWNLOAD FLYER | SOW IN with a GIFT | DOWNLOAD Prayer Guide
Part of #hopeofharvest2021 | www.hopeofharvest2021.org
10 Days Pentecost is a 24/7, 10 Day online prayer meeting with believers from around the world.
From Ascension Thursday (May 13) leading up to Pentecost Sunday, May 23, we will have 24/7 prayer with two daily teaching times at Noon Eastern (7pm Israel) and 7pm eastern (2am Israel).
You are welcome to join for prayer at any time during 10 Days Pentecost. Each hour is facilitated by a different prayer-leading team, so please follow the lead of the leader in each hour.
Partnering with the Global Family 24/7 Prayer room, this gathering will include believers from all 6 continents and speaking many languages. The teaching times will feature powerful teachings coming from many different perspectives and cultures. You can see the schedule of who is leading prayer each day at https://globalfamily24-7prayer.org/
10 Days Pentecost is an equipping event, a gathering time to prepare people to organize 10 Day events in their own cities and regions this September 6-16.
Register today and join us for 24/7 online prayer starting at Noon Eastern US (7pm Israel) on May 13-23, 2021.
10 Days Pentecost is partnering with Hope of the Coming Harvest to see prayer and missions accelerated globally as we approach Pentecost.
More: https://www.10days.net/ | https://www.globalfamily24-7prayer.org/
Part of #hopeofharvest2021 | www.hopeofharvest2021.org
Hosted by Momentum Conference Australia — UPRising Australia 2021 is a gathering of those who dare to believe that prayers are heard, of those who believe their voices matter and that with one voice, the course of history can change. We will gather those who will speak the heart of God into being.
With so many overwhelming issues, we are gathering those whose reality is not just seen with the human eyes, but those who know that there is a Kingdom that has come and is coming. We will gather. We will pray. We will see the change in our regions and our nations. This is United Prayer Rising.
This conference consists of four days of prayer, worship and intercession for change in our regions and our nations. Conference Days 1 to 3 are free of charge whilst the final day (i.e. Day 4) is a ticketed event in which we will be gathering at Rosehill Gardens for Solemn Assembly.
CONFERENCE: 29 JUNE - 01 JULY 2021 - FCF LIFE CENTRE
SOLEMN ASSEMBLY: 02 JULY 2021 - ROSEHILL GARDENS