{"id":28856,"date":"2026-03-10T09:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/28856\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T09:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T09:33:08","slug":"wea-denounces-obstruction-of-christian-burials-to-the-un-evangelical-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/28856\/","title":{"rendered":"WEA denounces obstruction of Christian burials to the UN, Evangelical Focus"},"content":{"rendered":"

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA<\/a>) raised in a dialogue with the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on freedom of religion or belief the obstacles Christians and other faith groups face when trying to bury their loved ones according to their own religious funeral rites.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt moments of profound vulnerability, the ability to bury loved ones according to deeply held religious convictions is integral to human dignity\u201d, said<\/a> Janet Epp Buckingham<\/a>, director of the WEA Geneva Office, at the United Nations Rights Human Right Council\u2019s 61rd \u00a0Session.<\/p>\n

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She went on to say that the \u201cdenial of funeral rites consistent with one\u2019s faith, or obstruction, intimidation, or coercion in carrying them out, constitutes a serious violation of freedom of religion or belief and contradicts international human rights law\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"WEA<\/p>\n

\u00a0Oral statement of the WEA to the UN Human Rights Council, on 3 March 2026, in Geneva. <\/p>\n

The WEA therefore raises \u201cconcerns\u201d about developments in India<\/a>, \u201cwhere some families have reportedly been compelled to transport bodies long distances, leave loved ones unburied for extended periods, or undergo coerced re-conversion rituals before burial could proceed\u201d.<\/p>\n

The evangelical representative also denounced that \u201cin certain instances, violence, police inaction, and even exhumations have compounded the suffering of grieving families\u201d.<\/p>\n

The WEA strongly recommends all countries that are members of the United Nations<\/a> to implement the recommendations of the special rapporteur an \u201cto consult religious communities in shaping burial policies, ensure equitable access to burial space for all faith groups, and protect families from violence and intimidation during funeral rites\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Evangelical Focus is a network of many people in Europe and beyond who strive to bring a uniquely Christian perspective<\/a> to the big issues of conversation.<\/p>\n

Through news, interviews, opinion and analysis, we seek to build bridges between evangelical churches and the societies in which they live.<\/p>\n

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\n Published in: Evangelical Focus<\/a> – world<\/a>
\n – WEA denounces obstruction of Christian burials to the UN\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) raised in a dialogue with the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28857,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[17475,5621,5619,5620,65,10593,17476,191,17473,5622,17474,17472],"class_list":{"0":"post-28856","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-geneva","8":"tag-burial","9":"tag-church-news","10":"tag-digital-evangelical-news","11":"tag-evangelical-news","12":"tag-geneva","13":"tag-human-rights-council","14":"tag-human-rightschristian-news","15":"tag-india","16":"tag-janet-epp-buckingham","17":"tag-religion-news","18":"tag-religious-freedom","19":"tag-world-evangelical-alliance"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116204195322167002","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}