A high ranking Italian politician is pushing the European Union to establish a working group to protect persecuted Christians worldwide and prepare a manual for embassies of EU member states regarding the treatment of persecuted Christian minorities.
Franco Frattini, an Italian politician, currently serving as Italy’s Foreign Minister in the new Berlusconi Cabinet, said in his interview with Avvenire, an Italian daily newspaper, that a group of countries is preparing to safeguard the rights of Christians worldwide.
‘We could promote a group of like-minded countries who take to heart the right of Christians to profess their faith anywhere in the world ... You see, Christians have never had a political group offering them strong support through their governments.
‘By the end of April we’ll have a manual for European embassies in the rest of the world, focusing in particular on the treatment of Christian religious minorities,’ he said.
Mr Frattini said his country is planning to conduct an international conference on religious freedom in 2010 and to introduce a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly to protect the rights of Christians. He said the initiative will help ‘closely monitor the treatment of religious minorities, especially Christian minorities, in the most sensitive countries.’
The EU intends to use the list of the 50 worst persecutions of Christians published by Open Doors, an international Christian ministry organising projects to support and strengthen persecuted Christians, to identify countries where the situation regarding religious freedom ranges from ‘severe persecution,’ ‘serious persecution,’ ‘limitation’ to ‘problematic.’
North Korea is ranked No. 1 on the 2010 World Watch List followed by Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Maldives, Afghanistan, Yemen, Mauritania, Laos and Uzbekistan. The 2010 list was released in January.
(Click here to see the list)
In February 2010, a delegation of the EU officials visited Kandhamal, India’s eastern Orissa state, where more than 90 Christians were killed, over 5300 Christian houses and 250 churches and Christian institutions were looted and torched, and around 54,000 Christians left homeless. The 11-member delegation, led by EU political affairs secretary Christophe Manet, has raised hopes that Christians’ voices will be heard.
Before taking the role of Foreign Minister, Mr Frattini served as European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security and was one of five vice-presidents of the 27-member Barroso EU Commission.