Human Rights Day: December 10, 2025 – Content from Speakers will be posted by Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) on the following shared Google Drive — Speaker Content Folder
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) advocates for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on our shared Universal Human Rights of Freedom of Thought, Freedom of Conscience, and Freedom of Religion, (UDHR Article 18). R.E.A.L. notes the issuance of : interim report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief- “Freedom of religion or belief” A/76/380-“Attributes of Freedom of Thought.” This is posted at the United Nations website at: https://undocs.org/A/76/380. This interim report discusses: (a) freedom not to disclose thoughts; (b) freedom from punishment for thoughts; (c) freedom from impermissible alteration of thoughts; (d) enabling environment for freedom of thought. This interim report also discusses seven related issues: (1) torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; (2) surveillance; (3) coercive proselytism, anti-conversion and anti-blasphemy efforts; (4) intellectual freedom and education; (5) existing and emerging #technologies; (6) mental health; (7) conversion practices.
In addition with the global attacks on Freedom of Information, R..E.A.L. is also posting a copy of this interim report here at RealCourage.org.
R.E.A.L. also provides a link to this report in plain text format at: https://www.realcourage.org/freedom-of-religion-thought-un-10-2021-2/ (It seems wrong and counterproductive to require a shared report on Freedom of Thought to require a commercial company Adobe Acrobat to have an “account” to read the report.)
R.E.A.L. is encouraging public review and discussion of this interim report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, on Freedom of Thought, Conscience, and Religion.
R.E.A.L. has been sharing this information on social media on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/realhumanrights/status/1499364992843460612
To the government of the People’s Republic of China, the people of conscience and freedom reject your unjust persecution of Yang Maodong in defending our shared universal human rights. We call for the day when all of China’s 1.3 billion people will be free.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty rejects the Communist Chinese (CCP) dictators sentencing of human rights activist Yang Maodong (Guo Feixiong) to six years in prison for promoting change to support human rights in China. Among his acts was to call for China to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). In his honor, we publish the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the Chinese language today here today, using the official translation from the United Nations. We urge people around the world to share it with Chinese people today.
The ongoing imprisonment of Pakistan Christian woman Asia Bibi highlights the ongoing oppression of Pakistan Christian, other Pakistan religious minorities, as well as Pakistan majority Muslims, by the oppressive blasphemy law, used as a tactic to silence unpopular voices and to oppress others. As part of our commitment to our shared universal human rights, Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) challenges Pakistan’s blasphemy law and its use to kill, oppress, and intimidate others.
United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) chairwoman Katrina Lantos Swett and Mary Ann Glendon have gone to Pakistan to speak to Pakistan government officials to change the Pakistan blasphemy law. These USCIRF leaders state that the Pakistan “blasphemy law on its face flatly violates both freedom of religion and freedom of expression,” and they call for the U.S. State Department to “designate Pakistan a ‘country of particular concern’ for its continued record of failure in protecting religious freedom.”
In Punjab alone, Dawn has reported262 cases of alleged blasphemous behavior.
Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi sentenced to death for “blasphemy”
Noreen Asia Bibi (known mostly as Asia Bibi) was convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court in November 2010, receiving a sentence of death by hanging, based on a June 2009 argument with Muslim women who were upset with her for drinking the same water as them. A trumped up charge was made that she subsequently insulted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, which she has denied but was the basis for her arrest, conviction, and imprisonment. Over 400,000 signatures have been placed on petitions calling for her release. Christian minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti and Pakistani government politician Salmaan Taseer called for her release and opposed the blasphemy laws, and they were both killed by terrorists. Her family remains in hiding due to terrorist threats.
Pakisan: Christian Pastor Rashid Emmanuel Accused of Blasphemy Gunned Down in Faisalabad Court (Source: Jabran Inayat and GVM Television)
We have reported on many other blasphemy cases: Christian pastor Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajjad (who were gunned down in the streets in Faisalabad). The two brothers had left a court hearing on on charges of “blasphemy,” when they were gunned down on the court house steps, even when they had a police escort. There were rumors that they might be found innocent and released. Asia IT News reported that for days religious leaders had been “fanning the flame” of hatred against the two brothers.
We have reported on those Pakistan Christians fleeing for their lives, from such false “blasphemy” charges, such as Ms. Saiqa and Jehanzaib Asher.
Pakistan Christian Qamar David Convicted of “Blasphemy” Died in Prison Under Mysterious Circumstances, After Threats
With literally hundreds of cases, we cannot imagine how many we do not have specific names, places, and dates, to report on, as shown by the 262 cases in Punjab alone. One of our Pakistan contacts advises us that they are aware of dozens of blasphemy cases against Pakistan Christians with unregistered newspapers giving local coverage to such blasphemy cases, which extremists use to rationalize hatred and violence against the local Pakistan Christian community.
Our source states that people involved in recent Pakistan blasphemy cases have included Naeem Masih, Ejaz Taj, Shokath Haroon, Saiqa Mukthar, Kamran Victor, Nayab Wilson, Javed Joseph, Saima Bibi, all of whom need the support of the international human rights community. Pakistan Christians charged in trumped-up blasphemy cases are also facing fatwas against them declared by extremist Mullahs. The human rights community needs to continue to find ways to protect these people whose human rights are in immediate danger, as well as to find ways to press Pakistan to end its out-of-control blasphemy laws.
Pakistan majorities need to also realize that these blasphemy laws are not just a threat and a problem for Pakistan Christians, but are also used to oppress and threaten Pakistan minority and majority Muslims as well.
Pakistan: Ahmadiyya Muslim man, Masud Ahmad, was falsely arrested and imprisoned for blasphemy
The out-of-control blasphemy laws in Pakistan are an offense to the universal human rights not only of Pakistan Christians and other religious minorities, but also an offense to all Pakistan people and the people of the world.
Responsible for Equality And Liberty supports and defends the universal human rights of all people, and it reminds Pakistan of its obligations and commitment under international law. We challenge the Pakistan blasphemy law as a direct attack on our shared universal human rights.
Pakistan is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ratified as of June 23, 2010, as well as a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The Pakistan Blasphemy Law is in direct contradiction to its international agreement of ICCPR Article 18, which includes “1. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.” The Pakistan Blasphemy law is in direct opposition to these shared universal human rights for the Pakistan people and for all people. Pakistan needs to decide whether or not it is a member of the nations of the world that respects human rights and dignity, or it is a clear and unquestionably self-declared rogue nation which rejects these global standards necessary for a free people.
R.E.A.L. urges the Pakistan government and the Pakistan people to end the oppressive blasphemy law which attacks the rights of Pakistan Christians and other religious minorities, and which is used as a method to harass and intimidate people with a grudge against a Pakistani in any identity group. These attacks on our shared universal human rights have to end. We urge Pakistan to realize the need for change and to become responsible for equality and liberty.
In a display of anti-Islam fever, a group of nearly 200 had a protest in front of the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix mosque in Phoenix, Arizona. The group was led by former U.S. Marine soldier Jon Ritzheimer. While the protest did not result in injuries or deaths, the image of numbers of individuals armed with weapons in front of a house of worship is a disgrace to America’s commitment to our Constitutional rights and our Universal Human Rights.
The media debate about the protest largely was centered on Mr. Ritzheimer and his supporter’s views on Islam. But that is not the real issue in this debate. The unanswered question is his view and his supporters’ views on the Constitution of the United States and our shared universal human rights. Our Constitution’s Bill of Rights protects our freedom of religion (under the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment); the same Constitution which Mr. Ritzheimer made a solemn vow to support and defend. America also is committed to freedom of religion under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 18, signed by the United States on December 10, 1948, as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Part III, Article 18, signed by the United States on October 5, 1977, and ratified on June 8, 1992.
In the United States of America, and in international law, freedom of religion is not simply a “good idea.”
Freedom of religion is THE LAW.
Freedom of speech and protest is also THE LAW.
But freedom of speech and protest, while holding an automatic weapon, is no longer “public protest.” It is nothing less than cowardly, despicable threats, which are a disgrace to all Americans, our Constitution, and our universal human rights.
Phoenix, Arizona Protests in front of Islamic Community Center on May 29, 2015 – with Cowards Holding Automatic Weapons (Source: Twitter)
According to the reports, this protest was the result of a terrorist attack on a Texas school earlier in May, during a “Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest,” designed to insult Muslims. As CNN reported, “The Islamic Community Center of Phoenix is the mosque that Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi attended for a time. They’re the men who drove from Arizona to a Dallas suburb to shoot up a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest there. Both were killed by police early this month.” But the rest of the story is that Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi shot at a security guard in an attempted terrorist attack there. That is the violence we have seen from other pro-violent jihad extremists. Those criminals paid the price for their criminal violence with their lives. This does not discount that there may be other extremists supporting Simpson and Soofi; there must continue to be a human rights call to challenge extremists, and even terrorists in every area of this nation. Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) reported on and condemned the terrorist acts by Simpson and Soofi in Garland, Texas, and we defended the right to unpopular, contemptible speech by those they attacked. But there is a difference between respecting the freedom of such unpopular speech, and those extremists who take automatic weapons to protest in hate in front of a house of worship.
The idea that over 100 individuals believe that it is acceptable in the United States of America to hold an “armed” protest outside of a house of worship is an insult to the Constitution, and a slur against the laws of this nation and our shared human rights.
If this were any other nation, the images of armed individuals protesting outside of any house of worship would bring the voices of outrage and disgust from human rights activists, the United Nations, and those committed to religious freedom. So it must be, of course, with the United States as well. The number of “armed individuals” appear to be a small minority of the total protesters. Does this matter? If 100 protested outside of a Pakistan Christian church, a European Jewish synagogue, or any other house of worship anywhere in the world, but only a “small minority” of the protesters held machine guns, would this still not be a source for human rights outrage? Of course, it would, and it must, in the United States of America as well.
Furthermore, the vicious language of some of the protesters show their contempt towards the United States’ Constitution and our commitment to universal human rights of freedom of religion. The protest organizer’s call for protesters to bring guns to the event – “[p]eople are also encouraged to utilize there second amendment right at this event” – is an embarrassment to all patriotic Americans who respect our Constitution and our shared freedoms. We were lucky that no one got injured or killed – THIS time. But the failure to be consistent in our support for Constitution and our human rights remains an issue where we must continue to make change.
An Arizona Muslim activist also reported that the Arizona protest supporters included extremists advising participants to bring ammunition “coated in pig blood and fat.” R.E.A.L. has confirmed this with our own investigation as well. This path to hate, depravity, and violence can be reversed. It begins with a consistent support by all Americans for the truths that we hold self-evident, our commitment to our shared human rights, shared human dignity, and in America, our support for the Constitution.
It begins by being Responsible for Equality And Liberty – everywhere, for all of our fellow Americans, and for all of our brothers and sisters in humanity.
