EU calls on Pakistan to repeal blasphemy law and forced marriages
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar with EU Special Representative for Human Rights Olof Skoog. Photo: Morning Star News
On January 31, 2025, a European Union delegation warned that Pakistan’s preferential trade status could be at risk if the country fails to address human rights issues, including controversial blasphemy laws, the conversion of minority girls to another religion, and freedom of religion or belief, Morning Star News reports.
The delegation, led by EU Special Representative for Human Rights Olof Skoog, met with senior Pakistani officials.
The meeting noted that Pakistan remains a key EU partner in South Asia and that relations with the bloc are based on shared values of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, guided by the principles of the UN Charter and international norms. The country’s leadership is failing to observe these norms, thereby calling into question continued cooperation under previous arrangements.
Earlier, the UOJ wrote that Christians had been acquitted in a blasphemy case in Pakistan.
Read also
In Hungary, man faces up to three years in jail for removing LGBT flags
A man who removed LGBT flags from Budapest's Elizabeth Bridge is facing a fine and up to three years in prison.
TRC releases priest of Tulchyn Eparchy of UOC
A priest of the Tulchyn Eparchy of the UOC was released on the day of his detention; no official reasons for his delivery to the TRC were revealed.
Child under 12 first euthanised in Netherlands
A child under the age of 12 has become the first person in that age group to be euthanised in the Netherlands under the expanded law; the case was referred to the prosecutor's office.
Odesa Metropolitan bars human rights activist Kokhanovska from Holy Communion
According to the decree of Metropolitan Agafangel, Victoria Kokhanovska is forbidden from receiving communion until she repents and refutes the accusations made.
Religious procession with reliquary of Oleksandria saints held in Znamyanka
Metropolitan Boholep, clergy, and faithful of the Oleksandria Eparchy of the UOC walked in prayer with holy relics through the streets of Znamyanka.
Evidence of early Christians' struggle against paganism found in Turkey
An Aramaic inscription in the Zerzevan Castle confirms that Christians sealed the Roman Mithras temple in the 3rd–4th centuries.