Voice for Justice representative, Joseph Janssen, confronted the United Nations Human Rights Commission this month by showing picture after picture of Christians who are currently in prison, some on death row, for their faith in Pakistan.
During the 58th Regular Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Joseph Janssen addressed Christian persecution, exposing the abuse of blasphemy laws, forced conversions, and religious intolerance in Pakistan. While Pakistan attacks free speech laws in places like Denmark, Sweden, and the US to imprison anyone who speaks out against Islam, Pakistan puts Christians on death row for their faith.
Joseph, together with the Jubilee Campaign US, Set My People Free, and the European Centre for Law and Justice, gathered human rights defenders, legal experts, and survivors to highlight religious persecution as a form of torture and a violation of fundamental freedoms. The key thing that Joseph hammered home was Pakistan’s blasphemy laws & wrongful imprisonments, forced conversions of Christians, job violence and lack of state protection for Christians, religious discrimination in education, torture and inhumane detention conditions for Christians prisoners.
Joseph Janssen shared first-hand accounts of victims, including his own sister’s wrongful imprisonment where she was put on death row for her faith. Her story can be found in the BTJ book UNDER THE THREAT OF DEATH.
Joseph and his sister Shagufta Kauser spoke at BTJ’s Voice of the Persecuted Church conference last year and will be on tour with BTJ this year in October.
