Those working with asylum seekers and refugees in Turkey have noticed that a growing number of Iranian Shi’ite asylum seekers are converting to Christianity during their migratory passage through Turkey. With apostasy punishable by death in Iran, asylum claims and…
Humanitarian agencies who have signed up to the Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief have committed themselves not to use humanitarian response to further political or religious creeds.[1] However,…
Founded in 1881 originally to assist Jews fleeing pogroms in Russia and Eastern Europe, HIAS[1] was formed to provide meals, transportation and jobs for the new arrivals to Manhattan. The Old Testament and the Talmud are the pillars on which…
Since the 1988 pro-democracy uprising in Burma, ethnic Chin refugees have fled to India’s Mizoram state, which borders Burma’s western Chin state. Because of the remote location and government-imposed restrictions on foreigners’ travel to Mizoram state, the Chins in Mizoram…
The rhetoric concerning protection of internally displaced people (IDPs) often focuses on top-down, international and/or state-led protection mechanisms. The 1998 Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement and other more recent documents such as the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s 2010 Framework on Durable…
Through an ecumenical organisation called OeSA,[1] the Reformed, Catholic and Methodist Churches in Basel offer humanitarian assistance to refugees who have just reached Switzerland after difficult and dangerous experiences. OeSA provides socio-pastoral assistance for asylum seekers in the period they…
Certain Christian church denominations in the UK have become focal points for providing assistance to refugees from East Africa and the Horn of Africa. The Pentecostal and Coptic (Orthodox) churches in particular – the principal religions of the refugees –…
On 11th March 2011, eastern Japan was hit by a magnitude 9 earthquake, followed by a tsunami approximately 30 minutes later. By 22nd June, the death toll had reached over 15,000, with more than 7,000 still missing and over 110,000…
The fifth High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection Challenges explored ‘Faith and Protection’, assembling over 400 representatives of faith-based organisations (FBOs), faith leaders and other partners in Geneva in December 2012 for a two-day discussion on partnership with faith-based actors. This…
The emergence of ‘liberated areas’ in the Syrian conflict has brought into sharp relief the salience of faith in humanitarian activity, as faith-based organisations (FBOs) are explicitly providing the majority of support and assistance to displaced Syrians there. Humanitarian activity…