Christians in the Middle East

Baroness Cox Excerpts

Friday 9th December 2011 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Cox]

My Lords, I, too, thank the most reverend Primate for initiating this very timely debate. In the short time available, I will try to reflect his emphasis on diversity by focusing on four countries which have not experienced recent political upheavals—Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey and Iraq—and two which have undergone recent revolutions: Egypt and Tunisia.

Saudi Arabia is the most extreme and repressive country in the Islamic world today, with a total ban on religious practice by non-Muslims; a refusal to allow anyone even to bring a Bible into the country; a religious police, ruthless in punishing anyone who violates these prohibitions; and school textbooks which promote religious intolerance and virulent anti-Semitism. It is also a cause of particular concern that Saudi Arabia is promoting its very hard-line form of Islam, Wahhabism, around the world.

In Iran, a nation already referred to by my noble friend Lord Alton, Article 4 of the constitution states that all laws must be based on Islamic principles, which makes the 2 per cent of the population belonging to other faiths, including Christians, Jews and Baha’is very vulnerable to oppressive policies and harsh penalties for crimes such as apostasy. Reports indicate an increase in harassment of Christians, while Baha’is have been heavily persecuted. The reports are that the increased persecution against Christians is sometimes made on the charge of actions against the security of the state. While we speak here today, I will again refer—this case has already been referred to twice, but I want to highlight it—to the situation of the 35 year-old Christian pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani, who faces possible imminent execution, having been told by courts on three appearances that he must recant his Christian faith or die.

Not surprisingly, Iran has seen a haemorrhage of Christians since the 1979 revolution: for example, the number of Assyrian Christians has dwindled from 100,000 in the mid-1970s to barely 15,000 now. Iraq has been widely discussed by many of your Lordships, and I will not repeat the statistics that my noble friend Lord Alton has provided to the House. He has detailed a number of attacks and killings of Christians. I add my tribute to those that have already been made to Canon Andrew White for his magnificent work, particularly in promoting interfaith relations, in that difficult situation.

There are other aspects of what is happening in Iraq that we should be aware of, in addition to the killings and the attacks on churches. Christians have also experienced verbal insults to their faith, personally and in the media; graffiti on buildings telling them to convert or “face the consequences”; text messages threatening to kidnap Christian children; and death threats by phone or text, often involving demands for money. Such menaces represent a serious security issue for an already vulnerable community. Of particular concern are the very serious recent attacks on Christians in and around Dohuk, in an area which had recently been seen as so safe that many Christians fled there thinking that it would be a haven for them, a disturbing development that has not even been reported in the media. Hence we have seen another mass exodus of Christians, from 1.5 million to a mere 150,000 today.

I turn to two countries that have experienced the recent so-called Arab spring, Tunisia and Egypt. Tunisia—one, hopefully, can report—is an example of cautious optimism. Minorities are staying in the country, hoping that there may be genuine democratic reform. According to the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Tunis,

“The democratic spirit is there … This is not Iran, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia—it’s not Switzerland or Sweden either … This will be a real Arab democracy, with a Muslim colouring”.

I hope that that will be a real precedent for other countries undergoing change.

Egypt, by contrast, has seen an upsurge of violence, which has already been referred to in this debate. That violence has increased since January. Under Mubarak, there was systematic discrimination and episodic violence against the Christian Copts, who represent 15 per cent of the population, but there have been twice the number of attacks against them since January than in the previous two years and perpetrators have not been called to account. The culture of impunity has become almost institutionalised and is believed to have encouraged attacks on the Copts since the beginning of this year, leading to a feeling of vulnerability among people who should feel protected by their nation state. The violence, the insecurity, the impunity for aggressors and the fear of the growing influence of the Muslim Brotherhood have resulted in yet another mass exodus of Christians—nearly 100,000 since March this year.

Countries that are ruled by adherents to Sharia law experience inherent discrimination, ranging from the imposition of special taxes to threats of the death penalty for apostasy and blasphemy. Even Turkey’s secular democracy still exhibits some discrimination against Christians. Many feel that the Government there are trying to achieve the gradual extinction of Christianity by draconian regulations affecting succession in governance, entry into the priesthood through seminaries, the building of new churches and public expressions of religious affiliation. There have also been episodes of violence, for which perpetrators have not been brought to account. However, recent developments, such as the pledge to return property confiscated from Christian and Jewish communities, are perhaps signs of improvement and to be much encouraged.

I conclude by suggesting some possible types of response. First, I stress the importance of building bridges, not walls, wherever possible. One positive example from my own experience is taken not from the Middle East but from Indonesia, the world’s largest Islamic nation with an honourable record of religious tolerance until that was shattered in 1999 with an invasion of Islamists from the Middle East in the form of Laskar Jihad, which generated conflict in Maluku and Sulawesi, a conflict in which thousands were killed and displaced and many non-Muslims subjected to forced conversion. However, after a few years, the traditional Muslim leaders wanted to normalise relations with the Christian communities. I was privileged, at their request, to help to establish the Islamic Christian Organization for Reconciliation and Reconstruction, which was launched in Jakarta with the late former President Abdurrahman Wahid as honorary president. I was delighted when the British Government funded an interfaith delegation under the auspices of IICORR to come to the United Kingdom to work out policies of reconciliation and reconstruction away from the conflict zone. I was even more delighted when, on return to Ambon, they were able to prevent renewed conflict on the basis of the good faith developed while here in the UK. I hope that many more such initiatives might be ways forward as regards some of the situations that we are discussing today. I am therefore deeply committed to such inter-faith initiatives, which promote genuine inter-faith harmony and reconciliation where there has been conflict. However, there is also a need for realism and a need to take appropriate measures on behalf of victims of persecution.

I have great respect for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, with its remit to publish annual reports on the state of religious freedom around the world, already mentioned by my noble and right reverend friend Lord Carey. Particularly significant is the commission’s authority to require the US Administration to take appropriate measures to call to account countries exhibiting violations of religious freedom. I ask the Minister whether Her Majesty’s Government might consider a similar initiative. In July, I understand, the Foreign Office sponsored a conference on religious freedom, the Wilton Park conference, promoting religious freedom around the world. Will the Minister let us know what were the outcomes of that conference and what actions Her Majesty’s Government intend to take in the light of those outcomes?

It is encouraging that the Foreign Secretary recently said:

“The freedom of religious belief is a universal human right which needs to be protected everywhere, and the ability to worship in peace is a vital component of any free and democratic society”.

Those words must be warmly welcomed, but reports that the European Union is reluctant to promote the freedom to change one’s religion for fear of the response from the OIC nations are a cause for concern. Can the Minister offer any reassurance on that point?

I also ask the Minister whether the issue of symmetry is raised during discussion with countries such as Saudi Arabia, where the restrictions are so severe, and whether any consideration is given to Saudi Arabia’s massive investment of money in building and sponsoring mosques and madrassahs here in the United Kingdom while still allowing no religious freedom to non-Muslims in its own country with severe punishments for anyone caught practising their own religion.

[Lord Patten]

I thank the noble Baroness for giving way. She has just mentioned Saudi Arabia, and the lack of reciprocity between our practices and theirs. The same is the case with Turkey, which was mentioned earlier in the speech of the noble Baroness. Does she feel that we could or should do more to encourage the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to use the argument of reciprocity as a starting point and not brush it under the carpet?

[Baroness Cox]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for highlighting the point that I was intending to make, and for making it absolutely explicit. I thank him.

I ask the Minister whether religious freedom features as a priority in discussions on human rights with other countries and whether in cases of gross violations, consideration might be given to the use of appropriate pressure with regard to religious freedoms. My last question is what consideration is given to the provision of aid to victims of oppression and persecution, such as the desperately needed humanitarian aid for Christians under attack in Iraq.

In conclusion, religious freedom is one of the most fundamental freedoms enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights, to which the UK is a signatory. The threats to this freedom are growing in ways highlighted by today’s debate, which is why we owe a debt of gratitude to the most reverend Primate for initiating it. I sincerely hope that the Minister’s reply will demonstrate the Government’s deep commitment to the protection and promotion of religious freedom to bring reassurance to Christians and members of other faiths who are currently suffering persecution and oppression, and to assure faith communities that we are taking their situation seriously. We who enjoy our freedoms must surely use those freedoms to speak and to act for those who are denied theirs.