Human Rights

European asylum seekers in the Ottoman Empire

Christmas celebration in present day Istanbul During those troubled decades, the empire also became a haven for the religiously oppressed. In the mid seventeenth century, for example, a cluster of Hugenots, forced into exile from France, resided in Istanbul, and several Anglican clergymen who had fled commonwealth England, Quakers, Anabaptists, […]

Minorities` representation

MUCH is made of the fact that Pakistan`s national flag was designed to represent all the communities that were to live in this land. The green of the banner was meant to symbolise the Muslim majority and the white strip represented the non-Muslim minorities: Christian, Hindu, Parsi, Sikh and others. […]

Italians move to ban burka

Credit/Source: The Times of Malta: August 03, 2011 An Italian parliamentary commission yesterday approved a draft law banning women from wearing veils that cover their faces in public. The draft passed by the constitutional affairs commission would prohibit women from wearing a burka, naqib or any other garb that covers […]

OIC calls on Somali sides to stop fighting

By AGENCIES, Arab News ISTANBUL: Member states of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) gathered in Istanbul Thursday to coordinate an emergency response to the devastating drought in Somalia. “In such a large-scale disaster, we need to join hands together and to act collectively so as to counter the […]

French government blocks jobs for foreigners

France –  Wednesday 27 July 2011 In April, French Interior Minister Claude Guéant announced he wanted to cut work-related immigration, claiming that the integration of migrants had failed in France. Now the list of jobs open to non-European immigrants has been halved. Foreign lift-repairers, surveyors and insurance salesmen are no longer welcome. […]

3-6 months for Ahmadiyah riot organizers

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Twelve men were sentenced on Thursday to three to six months’ imprisonment for various charges, starting from limited involvement to masterminding the riot that led to the deaths of 3 minority Ahmadiyah sect members in Banten. Three panels of judges at the Serang District Court levied […]