Bratislava, December 9, 2024 - UPF Slovakia examined "Religious Freedom and the Persecution of Minority Groups" on the occasion of Human Rights Day.
The UN International Human Rights Day (10.12.) provides a great opportunity to discuss the state of religious freedom in Europe. Currently, faith groups are being harassed in 183 countries worldwide; even in Europe repression of religious minorities is increasing. Sadly, many faith groups too are biased and intolerant of one another.
UPF pleads for more understanding and fairness and informs about current cases of discrimination. This year we asked members of the ALLATRA movement to speak about the current attacks and those behind the campaign. The international social movement "ALLATRA" brings together volunteers from more than 180 countries to explore climate change and find solutions to the global climate crisis. It also promotes uniting people to create a sustainable society that ensures security and prosperity for present and future generations.
Although hundreds of negative articles within a short period have badly damaged the movement´s reputation, our guests were interested to hear first-hand about ALLATRA. Despite cold and rainy weather, almost 50 guests came to our Peace Embassy in central Bratislava.
Ing. Renata Poláková, chairwoman of ALLATRA Slovakia and Ing. Katarína Mikitová, volunteer with ALLATRA gave a comprehensive and lively presentation. Both expressed thanks to UPF for enabling them to clarify their position. “Such events are extremely important, especially today, when mutual respect and open communication need to be constantly remembered and encouraged. Everyone is guaranteed basic human rights, but reality shows that these rights are frequently and systematically violated under the influence of various interest groups,” said Renata Poláková. Katarína Mikitová added, “We believe that public education and open dialogue are the keys to positive change. The more we as a society are able to speak out on such issues and work together to find solutions, the faster we can achieve improvements in respect for human rights.”
The video Faith Breaking is Big Business, produced by the group´s TV channel last June was shown. It exposes the fact that although cult experts from FECRIS and RACIRS have lost court cases because of criminal and civil violations, they can still count on media support. Why? Main-stream media is biased, and sadly churches are among its preferred targets.
This event familiarised our guests with the ALLATRA movement and informed us about ways in which various faith groups are discriminated against.
At the end, there was lively dialogue between speakers and guests over tasty refreshments.