A Documented 634 Cases of Religious Persecution Occurred in China During 2015
ICC NOTE: According to China Aid, a documented 634 cases of religious persecution occurred in China during the 2015 year which saw 19,426 people affected. That is a 4.74% increase from 2014 as the Chinese government continues to crackdown on religious minorities, especially its Christian population. Since its cross removal campaign began in 2013 over 2,000 crosses have been demolished along with over 400 churches. Church leaders, lawyers, and members face threats of imprisonment and physical assaults from local authorities for opposition to the campaign and or actions considered detrimental to the state.
5/19/2016 China (China Aid) – Today, China Aid released its 2015 Annual Report of Religious and Human Rights Persecution in China, which indicates that religious persecution and human rights abuse by the Chinese government against its citizens has risen 4.74 percent since 2014 based on six specific categories of persecution.
All six categories, which include the total number of persecution cases, the number of religious practitioners persecuted, the number of citizens detained, the number of citizens sentenced, the number of severe abuse cases and the number of individuals in severe abuses cases, increased between 6.15 and 174.65 percent. The category with the largest increase was the number of cases of verbal, mental and physical abuse, including torture, which increased from 71 in 2014 to 192 in 2015.
In 2015, China Aid documented 634 cases of persecution in which 19,426 religious practitioners were persecuted, representing an 8.62 percent increase from 2014’s 17,884 religious practitioners persecuted.
A number of factors led to the increases, including a widespread, barbaric round up of China’s human rights legal professional, activists and family members in July 2015.
The heightened level of persecution can also be attributed to the continuation of a cross demolition campaign in Zhejiang province. Many of the individuals summoned, detained, arrested, placed under residential surveillance or sentenced in 2015 were involved in protesting the cross demolition campaign or defending the campaign’s victims.
Although there has been an escalation of persecution in China, religious communities are increasingly utilizing the rule of law to defend their rights in administrative proceedings and exposing ongoing abuse and the denial of religious freedom and related human rights via social media.
To view the full report, including statistics and data analysis, click here.
*Please note, China Aid predominately receives reports of abuse from Christian communities in China, and the report and related data predominately reflects persecution against Christians.