War on Christianity: Muslim UN Officials Block Syrian Christian Refugees from Getting Help

Christians in Syria are treated better by Assad than UNHCR

Zaatari Refugee Camp, Jordan

Dale Hurd, CBN News

LONDON – Christian Syrian refugees have told CBN News that they have been blocked from getting help from the United Nations Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, by Muslim UN officials in Jordan.

UN Response to Syrian Christians? Get Lost

One of the refugees, Hasan, a Syrian convert to Christianity, told us in a phone call that Muslim UN camp officials "knew that we were Muslims and became Christians and they dealt with us with persecution and mockery. They didn't let us into the office. They ignored our request."

Hasan and his family are now in hiding, afraid that they will be arrested by Jordanian police, or even killed. Converting to Christianity is a serious crime in Jordan.

A clear pattern of discrimination by the United Nations refugee agency in Jordan against Christians. And it appears to be one reason that while tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim war refugees have been settled in the United States and Britain, only a small number have been Christian.

And the two governments that could stop this persecution of Christian refugees – the US and Britain – have done little to nothing about it. 

I can add, neither has Canada. Of course, Canada's very Liberal government despises Christians.

A Former Archbishop of Canterbury Says "Enough" 

Lord George Carey is suing Britain's home office alleging that "politically correct" officials have been "institutionally biased" against Christian refugees. He also wants to find out why out of 60-thousand Syrian war refugees accepted into the United States and Britain in 2014, almost none were Christians. 

Lord Carey's attorney, Paul Diamond, explains the case: 

"You have this absurd situation where the scheme is set up to help Syrian refugees and the people most in need, Christians who have been "genocided," they can't even get into the U.N. camps to get the food. If you enter and say I am a Christian or convert, the Muslim U.N. guards will block you [from] getting in and laugh at you and mock you and even threaten you.

Christian Refugee Viewed as the Enemy by Muslim UN Officials

Another Syrian refugee, Timothy, who told us he became a Christian after seeing Jesus in a dream, said he was also blocked from entering a refugee camp by Muslim UN officials. 

"All of the United Nations officials, most of them, 99 percent, they are Muslims," Timothy explained from Jordan, "and they were treating us as enemies." 

Diamond says, "Sunni Muslim officials have blocked the way. They've laughed at them, threatened them, said 'You shouldn't have converted. You're an idiot for converting. You get what you get,' words to that effect."

Carey says by doing nothing, western governments are complicit in what calls "the steady crucifixion of Middle East Christians."

"And no simple measures are taken by both the British and the American government,' Diamond says, "It would be simple just to open up a refugee camp for religious minorities, for Christians, Yazidis, whatever they are, and they'd be safe. But no one does that." 

Nations Also Deporting Christian Refugees to Certain Imprisonment or Death

Christian refugees who have made it to western countries are increasingly being deported back to Muslim nations, with no regard for the danger they will face. 

Sweden Falling from Grace

Swedish attorney Gabriel Donner who represents Christian asylum seekers, says Sweden is now deporting up to one-third of Christian refugees back to Muslim nations where they are likely to be imprisoned or killed. 

One of those Christian refugees now facing imminent deportation is Iman Amir-Ourang from Iran. He says Swedish officials either did not understand or care about the evidence of his Christian faith.

Amir-Ourang told us, "There are so many atheists living in Sweden, so they can't believe in somebody that believes in God. So just because they don't believe in our Lord, they don't trust anybody else to believe in the Lord either."

"They don't understand the message in the Bible. It's just completely alien to them," Donner added.

Sweden is probably the only country in the world more extremely left-leaning than Canada. They call it 'progressive', but what are they progressing toward? Scandinavian countries suffer from the highest rates of domestic abuse in the industrialized world. It has a name; it's called the Nordic Paradox. It's a paradox because no-one there understands that eliminating Christ from society is not a good thing. 

Britain Ignores Christian Refugees While Welcoming ISIS Children

President Trump told CBN News in 2017 that Christian refugees would be given priority. But Muslim governments officially classify Christians as security threats, causing their asylum applications to western countries to be rejected.

That's almost funny! What is it terrorists frequently say when they are committing a massacre? Allahu aqbar? Not Jesus Christ!

The UN Refugee program did not respond to our request for answers.

Lord Carey has publicly appealed for money in his suit against the British home office, which has already threatened the 84-year churchman with all court costs if he loses. 

Meanwhile, Britain's Home office is spending a lot of time and money on the resettlement of the children of ISIS terrorists. 

Can't imagine anything going wrong there!

Those who wish to donate to Lord Carey's legal costs can email bill@epiphany.org.uk

30,000 Flee Boko Haram Violence in Nigeria

Islamic insanity gets another boost with a new enthusiasm from Boko Haram

By Clyde Hughes

Children orphaned by Boko Haram last July line up at the Special Orphans Learning Center.

Violence by the terrorist group has forced 30,000 to flee their homes in northeastern Nigeria

this past weekend. Photo by STR/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- Some 30,000 Nigerians fled the city of Rann over the weekend into Cameroon after militant group Boko Haram ramped up violence, according to a United Nations agency Tuesday.

UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, said that it launched a regional refugee response plan after Boko Haram's insurgency forced people to flee the Lake Chad Basin region. The displacement has flooded already crowded refugee camps around towns in the Borno State of northeastern Nigeria.

The agency said that Boko Haram has been targeting young girls, older women and workers in surging militant attacks against civilians that have already uprooted more than 250,000 from their homes. UNHCR has asked for $135 million to help people displaced by the insurgency.

UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch said at a news briefing in Geneva that the violence has clogged humanitarian operations and forced aid workers to pull out from some locations. He added that the damage to infrastructure along with livelihoods has been widespread, CNN reported.

Militant violence led to 15 deaths in four villages around Maiduguri in Borno State in November as insurgents reclaimed Baga, a village on the outskirts of Maiduguri. Hundreds there had fled their homes to escape Boko Haram's violence.

Boko Haram's video execution last October of aid worker Hauwa Leman, 24, a nurse with the International Committee of the Red Cross, sparked International outrage.

Boko Haram, whose name translates in the local Hausa dialect as "Western education is forbidden," is affiliated with the Islamic State and has been called the "Nigerian Taliban" because of its religious similarities who to the group that once ran Afghanistan.

And that will run Afghanistan again by this spring after the Americans pull-out.

Its militants mainly fight in the northern states of Nigeria, specifically Yobe, Kano, Bauchi, Borno and Kaduna.

‘Under UN’s Care’: Saudi Woman ‘Rescued’ from Deportation After Social Media Storm

Rahaf may just be better off than her predecessors

who have been violently repatriated and then disappeared

See link at bottom of story

Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun leaves Bangkok airport with UN officials and Thai immigration officers.

© Thai Immigration Bureau / AFP

The UN is examining the asylum appeal of a young Saudi woman who fled her family and is afraid of getting killed if sent home. She earlier barricaded herself in a Thai hotel room, refusing to leave until the UN intervened.

It will take the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) “several days” to determine whether Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, needs international protection, the organization’s representative in Thailand said. The woman earlier claimed asylum, fearing that she will be killed if expelled to her home country. UNHCR staff is expected to continue interviewing her on Tuesday.

A student at the University of Ha’il, Saudi Arabia, al-Qunun fled her family during a holiday trip to Kuwait. She was planning to seek asylum in Australia but was intercepted at an airport transit zone in Bangkok. She claimed that a Saudi diplomat seized her passport and tickets as part of a plot to forcefully return her to Kuwait on the next flight.

Al-Qunun then barricaded herself inside an airport’s hotel room, refusing to come out until she was granted a meeting with UN officials.

Renouncing Islam

In a series of emotional posts and videos on social media, she said that she escaped from abusive relatives and fears for her life because she had publicly renounced Islam. Leaving Islam is illegal in Saudi Arabia and punishable by death.

“They will kill me,” she said. “My life is in danger.”

She was fleeing psychological and physical abuse by her male relatives, in particular her father and her brother.

She had cut her hair and then been confined to her room for almost six months. She very clearly stated that she was unhappy with Islam. She was unhappy having to wear the hijab and being forced to pray. She was very unhappy being told that she couldn't study the things she wanted to study or she wouldn't be able to work in the way she want to work.

She was having her life interfered in every possible way by conservative men who were telling her that she could do this and couldn't do that, and when she tried to defy them and showed any independence, you know, she suffered abuse. 

She was remarkably consistent in talking to us and talking to others in saying that she thought she would be killed if she was sent back to Saudi Arabia.

Her father is a senior government official in a provincial administration. This is someone, I think, who would be able to treat his family any way he wants and would basically benefit from impunity because of his position, his stature, his influence.

What we have found in Saudi Arabia is a complete failure by Saudi Arabia to effectively investigate and prosecute honour-related violence, i.e. violence against women and girls when they do something that the men believe brings the family's honour into disrepute.

She is 18 years old, she's considered adult by international law.  - CBC

Rahaf’s posts immediately caused outcry on social media and attracted a flurry of responses. They were quickly shared online as Twitter users appealed to the UN and world leaders to rescue the trapped teen.

In her pleas online, the young woman specifically asked for asylum in the US, the UK, Canada and Australia. Thai immigration police initially indicated that she had to be sent back to Kuwait. But as her desperate calls for help quickly attracted human rights campaigners and UN refugee staffers intervened, they promised not to deport her.

“We will take her into Bangkok and provide her with safe shelter under the care of the UNHCR,” Thai immigration chief Surachate Hakparn told reporters on Monday after UN officials escorted her out of the hotel.

Riyadh denied that it had ever planned on apprehending al-Qunun and bringing her back, calling the case a “family matter.” Al-Qunun’s father and brother arrived in Bangkok seeking a talk with her. Thai immigration services said that such a meeting is possible only with approval from UN personnel.

After leaving the airport, al-Qunun reiterated that she would like to seek asylum in Canada. Ottawa didn’t issue any official response. However, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director with Human Rights Watch, revealed that Canada “really worked very hard” to “persuade” Thailand not to expel her.

I suspect she doesn't know how cold our winters are here in Canada, or she would aim for Australia. Nevertheless, we would love to have her; I'm just not sure how good we would be at keeping her safe from her family. We invite ISIS veterans to return home to Canada with full rights.

At the same time, Australian media has reported that the government in Canberra will be ready to take in al-Qunun if the UN verifies her claims. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young had earlier urged the prime minister to issue emergency travel documents for the Saudi woman and admit her into the country.

If she is returned, violently to Saudi Arabia, or Kuwait, rest assured that she will suffer for bringing dishonour to her family, and for renouncing Islam. She would certainly not be the first to suffer such a fate.

U.N. Refugee Agency: More People Returning to Syria in 2017

By Doug G. Ware  

A Syrian man removes an injured boy from an attack site following an airstrike on the neighborhood of al-Kalasa in Aleppo in 2015. The U.N. Refugee Agency said Friday that data show that nearly 500,000 displaced Syrians returned to their homeland in the first six months of 2017.

File Photo by Ameer Alhalbi/ UPI | License Photo

UPI -- After a mass exodus in recent years, more people are returning to Syria this year, according to data cited Friday by the United Nations' refugee agency.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees issued a report Friday that said there has been a "notable trend of spontaneous returns to and within Syria" so far in 2017.

According to the data, more than 440,000 "internally displaced" Syrians have returned to their homes in the country between January and July.

"In parallel, UNHCR has monitored over 31,000 Syrian refugees returning from neighboring countries so far in 2017," the humanitarian agency added. "Since 2015, some 260,000 refugees have spontaneously returned to Syria, primarily from Turkey into northern Syria."

Tens of thousands of Syrians have fled their homeland in recent years for various reasons -- most prominently the spread of terrorism and the civil war, now in its seventh year.

The main reasons Syrians are returning, UNHCR said, are to check on family or property and perceived improvement of the security situation in the war-torn Middle Eastern nation.

To meet the growing returns, UNHCR said it will increase its operational capacities inside Syria to facilitate the change.

The U.N. refugee agency is tasked with guarding and supporting refugees worldwide and assist in their voluntary repatriation.

"UNHCR believes conditions for refugees to return in safety and dignity are not yet in place in Syria," the report stated. "Access to displaced population inside Syria remains a key challenge, with aid convoys still unable to access regularly even the recently newly accessible areas.

"There is a clear need to continue to fund and support programs in host countries."

The U.N. agency said, though, that it cannot promote or facilitate further returns of Syrians to their home country "at this stage."

"Ensuring access to asylum for Syrian refugees and preserving the ability and conditions for them to stay in the host countries remain critical," it said.

UNHCR has requested more than $300 million for operations to aid displaced persons in Syria this year. So far, it has received about a third of that amount. The agency said it will seek an additional $150 million this year for those operations.

EU Pushes for Refugee Camps Outside Europe to Curb Migrant Influx

FILE PHOTO © Alkis Konstantinidis / Reuters

EU ministers are pushing forward with plans to fund refugee camps outside the bloc to save migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean and bringing into Europe only those “who require protection.”

The long-debated topic was on the table at Thursday’s meeting between EU interior ministers in the Maltese capital, Valletta. Officials focused on the problem of refugees attempting to reach the Union via the Mediterranean and smugglers profiting from sending migrants on a dangerous naval journey.

“The idea is to send them to a safe place, without bringing them into Europe," German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said. To achieve that, the EU is considering funding special camps in Africa where migrants will be screened by rights organizations and the UN.

According to the German minister, "the people taken by the smugglers need to be saved and brought to a safe place.” He stressed, however, that from there “only those who require protection" would be forwarded to Europe.

The screening camps might be located in Libya or some of its neighboring countries and operated under the auspices of UN refugee agency UNHCR, or the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Reuters writes.

There's a 'safe place' anywhere in Libya?

Another key point of the gathering on Thursday were EU asylum laws which, according to the so-called Dublin agreements, state that asylum-seekers must make their application in the EU country that they entered first. According to de Maiziere, the bloc will have to apply “additional rules” if the influx reaches a “massive” level. 

At its peak in 2015, the EU faced over 1 million refugees fleeing unrest in the Middle East and Africa, most of them from Syria and Afghanistan.

The EU managed to slash the numbers after striking a deal with Ankara last year, which envisioned Turkey preventing migrants from reaching Europe through its territory. The European Union also set up a naval mission in the Mediterranean to deal with the refugee problem.

Yet, the number of asylum seekers fleeing their war-torn or impoverished home countries through the Mediterranean still remained high, with hundreds of thousands of arrivals. Libya and Algeria became major exit points, with people mainly trying to reach Italy or Greece. 

Last year was the deadliest in terms of casualties among refugees who opted for the risky naval journey, with over 5,000 people killed or missing. 

In the first three weeks of this year, the UNCHR says it counted at least 230 people dead or missing. 

The plans to establish outpost camps have been criticized by some MEPs.

"Even more refugees will be locked up in North Africa under high risk of torture, rape and other forms of ill treatment," German MEP Cornelia Ernst, said as quoted by Reuters.

Libya - mulled as one of the places for the refugee camps – has been plagued by years of violence between rival factions, which followed the NATO-backed removal of the country’s leader, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2011.

Denmark Approves Confiscation of Refugees’ Valuables, Delay of Family Reunifications

Migrants, mainly from Syria, prepare to board a train headed for Sweden, at Padborg station in southern Denmark
© Claus Fisker / Reuters

The Danish parliament has passed measures aimed at deterring refugees from seeking asylum, including the confiscation of their valuables and a delay in family reunifications. The move has received widespread condemnation from human rights organizations.

Asylum seekers arriving in Denmark will now have to hand over cash exceeding 10,000 kroner (US$1,450) and any personal items valued at more than that amount. This is more than three times the 3,000 kroner ($435) that was originally proposed.

However, wedding rings and other sentimental items will be exempt from confiscation.

Integration Minister Inger Stojberg said the goal of the new legislation is for Denmark to become “significantly less attractive for asylum-seekers,” AFP reported.

The center-right Danish government says the measures are aimed at covering the cost of each asylum seeker’s support from the state, and is similar to requirements for Danish citizens receiving welfare benefits. However, Danes are not subject to the kinds of searches proposed in the new refugee law.

Some have compared the new measures to the confiscation of gold and other valuables from Jews by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

But Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen of the right-wing Venstre party has shrugged off the criticism, calling it the “most misunderstood bill in Denmark’s history.”

The new legislation will also prevent refugees from applying to be reunited with their family for three years, and will only give Syrian war refugees one year’s protection.

“I’m afraid that it will lead to an incentive structure where refugees bring their children with them,” parliament member Mette Gjerskov told Berlingske newspaper. Berlingske said ahead of the vote that she was one of three Social Democrats planning to vote against their own party.

I doubt it! It will more than likely cause migrants to head to another country, which is the whole idea.

“We have seen plenty of children in rubber boats on the Mediterranean,” the lawmaker added.

International human rights organizations have also condemned the three-year delay for reunification applications.

Amnesty International called the move “cruel,” stating that it could have a “devastating impact on families.” Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said the law violates several conventions on rights and refugees.

That sentiment echoed a January 15 letter to Stojberg from the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, Nils Muiznieks, who said the reunification waiting period raises “issues of compatibility” with the European Convention on Human Rights.

However, Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen defended the law to the UN Human Rights Council last week, saying “the Danish welfare state is based upon the very simple principle that the state will provide and pay for those unable to take care of themselves, not for those who are able.”

Jensen and Stojberg responded with similar answers when questioned by European MPs during a meeting of the civil liberties committee on Monday.

The bill will be signed into law by Denmark’s Queen Margrethe within a few days.

Passage of the new legislation comes less than one week after Danish lawmakers passed a resolution urging the government to look into the consequences of building temporary housing complexes for refugees outside of Danish cities. The move is backed by the anti-immigration Danish People’s Party, which wants to prevent refugees from integrating into Danish society.

Yikes! While this looks good at first glance in terms of safety for Danish girls, I can see some pretty awful possibilities as a consequence of such a move. Such camps would quickly become breeding grounds for discontent and recruiting grounds for ISIS. 

But the first question to be answered is whether or not real integration of such large numbers is even possible.

The influx of asylum seekers has led to tension with locals in some areas, with Danish women reporting sexual harassment at the hands of refugees in at least three towns. Several nightclubs have imposed strict admission rules, requiring patrons to prove their ability to speak Danish, German, or English. 

Denmark registered 21,000 asylum applications in 2015, making it one of the top EU destinations for refugees per capita, after Finland, Austria, Germany, and Sweden.

Europe continues to face its biggest migrant crisis since 1945, with the number of asylum seekers expected to increase this year. More than one million refugees entered Europe in 2015, most of them from Syria, where a civil war has taken the lives of 250,000 people and displaced 12 million since 2011, according to UN figures.

Switzerland Follows Denmark’s Lead to Seize Assets From Refugees to Pay for Upkeep

And the tide turns as European countries take steps to discourage migrants from coming

© Arnd Wiegmann / Reuters

Switzerland says it will introduce legislation which will force refugees to hand over cash and valuables to the authorities to 

help pay for their upkeep. The move by the Swiss follows

a similar plan implemented by Denmark

Refugees arriving in the Alpine nation will have to turn over any assets they possess which are worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs ($997).

"If you have property worth more than 1,000 Swiss francs when you arrive at a reception center you are required to give up these financial assets in return for a receipt,” an information sheet for refugees states, as cited by Reuters.

However, the move has been met with condemnation by human rights groups, who have called it “undignified.” Stefan Frey from refugee aid group Schweizerische Fluechtlingshilfe said that the practice “has to change.”

The state migration service SEM justified the move to the Swiss broadcaster SRF, saying the new law will make sure that asylum seekers and refugees will contribute to their upkeep, where possible.

"If someone leaves voluntarily within seven months this person can get the money back and take it with them. Otherwise the money covers costs they generate," an SEM spokeswoman told SRF.

The policy also indicates that refugees who gain the right to stay and work in Switzerland will have to pay 10 percent of their wages for a period of up to 10 years, so that they manage to pay off 15,000 francs in costs, the report states.

Denmark
On Tuesday, Danish lawmakers passed a bill that would allow the authorities to seize cash and jewelry belonging to refugees, in return for living in asylum centers.

“We want to limit the inflow,” Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen, whose right-wing Venstre party is behind the plan, told reporters on Tuesday. He went on to call it "the most misunderstood bill in Denmark's history."

Proposed in late 2015, the bill would allow Danish authorities to strip migrants of cash and any individual items whose combined value exceeds 10,000 kroner (€1,340, $1,450). Lawmakers raised the limit to $1,450 since its last consideration in mid-December, bringing it in line with an existing law which requires Danes to sell all of their valuables in order to apply for unemployment benefits.

However, the refugee-stripping bill has been amended to exempt engagement rings, family portraits, and badges of honor.

“The government, the Social Democrats, the Danish People’s Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Conservative People’s Party have agreed to amend the bill concerning valuables,” a government statement said, according to The Local Denmark news portal.

Of course this will put pressure on Germany, Sweden and other EU states to do the same, otherwise the inflow of migrants to their countries will only increase.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has condemned Denmark for tightening its immigration rules, saying it “regrets” what it called the Danes’ “deeply concerning response” to the global refugee problem.

“The proposals presented by the government are evidently aimed at conveying a message to make it ‘less attractive’ to seek asylum in Denmark, and is a deeply concerning response to humanitarian needs,” the UN refugee agency said in a January 6 statement.

“The signal Denmark’s introduction of restrictions sends to other countries in the world […] is worrisome and could fuel fear, xenophobia and similar restrictions that would reduce – rather than expand – the asylum space globally and put refugees in need at life-threatening risks,” the UNHCR’s report read.