As representatives of NGOs, religious organizations, and citizens concerned about freedom of religion and belief and the dignity of every human being, we call the attention of the political authorities on the dramatic situation of The Church of Almighty God (CAG) in China. The CAG is a Chinese Christian religious movement, credited by the Chinese authorities with four million members in China. Since its establishment in 1991, it has been systematically persecuted. Irrespective of its theology, we believe that the CAG, as any other religion, has the right to freely profess its faith.
According to a report released by the CAG on January 31, 2020 and available at the address https://centerna.kingdomsalvation.org/yearly-figures/en_US/annual-report-2019.pdf?n=0.1580527857, 6,132 CAG members have been arrested in China in 2019. 3,824 suffered various forms of torture or forced indoctrination, and 19 died as a result of the persecution. Overall, more than 30,000 CAG members were subject to various forms of persecution and harassment during the year 2019. Thousands were compelled to sign statements renouncing their faith, others had their personal assets confiscated or lost their jobs or their homes.
As it happens for many other religions, the persecution under Xi Jinping is getting worse every year. The report discloses horrific details about torture and extra-judicial killings in China, and harassment of CAG refugees in foreign countries by Chinese agents, including South Korea, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
There are now more than 5,000 CAG refugees overseas. Happily, more requests for asylum have been granted in 2019 than in previous years. But in some countries CAG asylum applications are still rejected, due to pressure and fake news spread by Chinese agencies, and a local political climate hostile to refugees. CAG members who are compelled to return to China are immediately arrested and sentenced to heavy jail terms, or ‘disappear’ into the deep Chinese concentration camp system, never to reappear.
We call on all democratic countries to generously welcome CAG refugees, and to publicly denounce the persecution of CAG, and of all religions, in Xi Jinping’s China.
Bitter Winter, a daily magazine on human rights and religious freedom in China
CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions)
ORLIR (International Observatory of Religious Liberty of Refugees)
FOB – European Federation for Freedom of Belief
CAP-LC – Co-ordination of Associations and Persons for Freedom of Conscience
EIFRF – European Inter-religious Forum for Religious Freedom
FOREF – Forum for Religious Freedom Europe
LIREC – Center for Studies on Freedom of Belief, Religion and Conscience
HRWF – Human Rights Without Frontiers
Soteria International
Citizen Power Initiatives for China
China Alarm
Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Religious Freedom (ADHRRF)
Association Against Religious Persecution
All Faiths Network
Mission Life for the Nations
Gemeinsam für Menschenrechte Deutschland
Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker, Regionalgruppe München
The Association Against Religious Persecution
Church of Scientology National Affairs Office, Washington DC
Coordinamento Interconfessionale “Noi siamo con voi”, Torino, Italia
United for Human Rights
FEDINSIEME (Comitato di promozione del dialogo interculturale ed interreligioso), Torino, Italia
Uyghur Human Rights Project
International Society for Human Rights, Frankfurt, Germany
Association for Chinese Human Rights and Religious Freedom
As individual friends of human rights:
Marco Respinti
Francesco Ravaglioli
Rebecca Moore
Pietro Masiello
Scott Morgan
Ho Ka Hin
Bachittar Singh Ughrha
José ElÍas Esteve Moltó
Giampiero Leo
Sheng Xue
Sergio Coscia
Francesca Evangelisti
Alessandra Montesanto
Johannes Steijnebrugh
Giuseppe Cicogna
Gabriella Banda
Please add your signature by writing to letter2020@bitterwinter.org.
