Christians and their religious freedom under the spotlight

(Vatican Radio) A conference entitled “Christians in the OSCE region, the State of their Religious Freedoms” took place Friday at Rome’s Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum).
The event co-organized by the Embassy of Ukraine to the Holy See, explored key themes such as such as religious intolerance and discrimination and the challenges that lie ahead.
One of the conference participants was the Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain to the Holy See, Nigel Baker.
Speaking to Vatican Radio’s Lydia O’Kane, Ambassador Baker said religious intolerance and discrimination is a global issue. “Our Minister for Faith and Senior Minister of State at the Foreign Office Baroness Warsi has herself very recently spoken about it as one of the greatest challenges faced by governments in this young century.”
The Ambassador goes on to say that the Britain is one of the countries that is “most assiduous is collecting data on hate crime, crimes against religion.”
In order to tackle the issue of intolerance and discrimination against Christians and other religions, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), is encouraging participating States to strengthen the links between Governments and NGO’s in order to facilitate positive interaction between them.
It is also encouraging educational initiatives to counter intolerance and discrimination.
Ukraine currently holds the Chairmanship of the OSCE. Listen to Ambassador Nigel Baker