Raffaella Di Marzio: An Analysis of Rejections of Chinese Christians’ Asylum Applications

In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has continued to escalate its persecution of Protestant and Catholic home churches, and listed The Church of Almighty God as a particular target for its oppression, carrying out widespread arrests and persecution. Many Christians have had no choice but to leave their homes behind and become itinerant, and some have even been forced to flee to democratic countries overseas to seek political asylum. Consequently, the outside world has gradually come to know the truth of the persecution they’ve suffered, causing great concern on the part of some international human rights experts, religious scholars, and professors; they have also made appeals on behalf of these Christians who have fled. However, the governments of some democratic countries have disregarded the truth of the CCP government’s persecution of Christians as well as international society’s condemnation of the CCP, rejecting Christians’ asylum applications with a variety of reasons. This has resulted in a very low acceptance rate of Chinese Christian asylum seekers in Europe. Some have received removal orders and some have even been sent back to China. Professor Raffaella Di Marzio, who is in charge of the Center for Studies on Freedom of religion, Belief and Conscience in Italy, has researched and analyzed the issue of the rejection of persecuted Christians’ political asylum applications by some democratic governments.

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Massimo Introvigne | Part 1 : Lies and Violence—Debunking the CCP’s Persecution of Christians

　　As is well known, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seized power through lies and violence, and it relies on lies and violence to maintain its power. The CCP’s rule is nothing but lies, violence, and murder. The CCP propagates atheism, regarding religion as the spiritual opium of the people. Christians preach the gospel and witness for God to carry out God’s will, but the CCP condemns such righteous deeds as abandoning and breaking up their families, and arrests and imprisons Christians on various false charges. In mainland China, Christians from various house churches, particularly from CAG, suffer brutal oppression and persecution for the sake of their religious belief, some of whom were left disabled or died. Many Christians have gone into exile and were rendered homeless with their families scattered. Countless Christian families have been thus broken! In this episode, we have invited Professor Massimo Introvigne, an Italian scholar of new religious movements, founder and managing director of Center for Studies on New Religions, to talk about why the CCP oppresses and persecutes The Church of Almighty God, whether the CCP’s accusations against The Church of Almighty God are true, and who is the main culprit behind the breakdown of Christian families, and so on. The truth will be uncovered, and the CCP’s cruel and evil essence against God that wins fame through deceiving the public and fights against justice will be exposed. Please stay tuned!

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Side Event of UNHRC in Geneva: Spotlighting The Church of Almighty God & Religious Freedom in China

　　On March 1, 2018, during the 37th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, the Coordination of the Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience (CAP LC) organized a Side Event on the denial of religious freedom in China and the case of The Church of Almighty God. The event was introduced and coordinated by Mr. Thierry Valle, the president of CAP LC. A panel of international scholars and human rights and freedom of religion experts discussed the dramatic situation of the members of The Church of Almighty God both in China, where they are severely persecuted, and in South Korea and Europe, where their requests for asylum are often denied. During the event, attendees also watched a video with testimonies of three members of The Church of Almighty God who suffered brutal persecution at the hands of the authorities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Their stories aroused profound reflection generally.

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Christian Feng Aixia’s Account of Her Experience of the CCP’s Cruel Persecution

Feng Aixia accepted Almighty God’s kingdom gospel in 2006. She was arrested by the CCP police when preaching the gospel in 2014. During the interrogation, the police stripped her off, slapped her on the face, beat her with electric batons, pulled one of her hands back over the shoulder and the other hand up along the back before cuffing them together, etc., torturing her in various kinds of ways. In the end, she was detained for fourteen days on the charge of preaching the gospel illegally and disturbing the social order. After her release, unable to bear the threat and control of the CCP, she was forced to leave her home and flee everywhere.

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Human Rights Expert Do Heeyoon: If Christians Are repatriated, Human Rights Groups Will Not Stand By

Human Rights Expert Do Heeyoon: If Christians Are repatriated, Human Rights Groups Will Not Stand By

On November 28, 2017, in response to concurrent public attacks and smears against The Church of Almighty God in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea, South Korean human rights expert Do Heeyoun and eight other non-governmental organizations jointly condemned the Chinese Communist government for its many years of brutal persecution against The Church of Almighty God, and expressed the view that the asylum applications of Christians of The Church of Almighty God should be recognized by their respective host nations. During a recent interview, with the pending asylum applications of Christians of The Church of Almighty God at risk in South Korea, South Korean human rights expert Do Heeyoun said: The South Korean government has always advocated human rights, so it would not unreasonably force people onto the road to ruin. If the government does leave these people high and dry, many international human rights groups won’t sit idly by. He hopes this type of situation won’t happen.

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Western Scholars vs CCP Representatives at the UN in Geneva About The Church of Almighty God

On March 1, 2018, during the 37th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, the Coordination of the Associations and Individuals for Freedom of Conscience (CAP LC) organized a Side Event on the denial of religious freedom in China and the case of The Church of Almighty God (CAG). A panel of international scholars and human rights and freedom of religion experts discussed the dramatic situation of the members of The Church of Almighty God both in China, where they are severely persecuted, and in South Korea and Europe, where their requests for asylum are often denied. During the event, there was a debate between the western scholars and CCP representatives of the Chinese delegation…

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Since the Chinese Communist Party came into power, it has been oppressing religious beliefs and frantically arresting and persecuting Christians. In recent years, some Chinese Christians have been forced to flee overseas because of their faith. However, their asylum applications are denied in Western countries, especially some in Europe, as the authorities of these countries do not acknowledge the fact that these Christians have been subjected to persecution, and they are in danger of being deported back to China. Carlos Iglesias, a senior Spanish human rights lawyer, comments on the egregious human rights situation in China, as well as its status quo of religious persecution. Regarding the exiled Chinese Christians being denied political asylum, Mr. Iglesias appeals to the authorities of Western countries to act with caution, saying "when they grant or deny this asylum, what is at stake is that person's life."

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