UK parliament focus on discrimination against Christian women
A briefing in the House of Commons next Tuesday will focus on the discrimination of
Christian women in Pakistan and Egypt, countries where there is religious persecution.
Lord David Alton of Liverpool will chair the parliamentary meeting, where
John Pontifex of the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need will
outline the findings of research done by their charity and by other organizations.
John Newton, press officer for Aid to the Church in Need, spoke with Vatican
Radio about the objective of Tuesday’s parliamentary meeting.
“The point of
the meeting in the House of Commons,” he explained, “is to raise awareness of the
sorts of issues that Christian women are facing, and to try and get some sort of action
from the UK parliament to be brought to bear on countries such as Pakistan and Egypt
where many of these abuses are reported as happening.”
In Pakistan, for instance,
reports have found that 30 percent of women in employment admit to being subject to
sexual harassment. There are also reports of Christians girls being raped, and the
authorities not following up the cases.
“These, of course, are cases of great
injustice,” Newton went on to say “that I think everyone can agree that something
should be done about, that the authorities shouldn’t just be turning a blind eye to,
or overlooking simply because the victims don’t belong to the majority community.”
Listen
to Ann Schneible’s interview with Aid to the Church in Need press officer John Newton
here: