A 120,000-strong protest across several major cities in the Republic of Korea on 18th of January 2018 that brought to light the murder of Ms. Ji-In Gu – a young woman who died after refusing to renounce her beliefs - has triggered a global wave of protests in more than thirty countries including the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, South Africa, Australia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, New Zealand, Japan and the Philippines. Global rallies have urged for justice to be delivered and for the enactment of a law that bans coercive conversion programmes. Shockingly, the South Korean government continues to turn a blind eye and, as of yet, has failed to issue a single statement.

In 2016, Ms. Gu was kidnapped, confined and shackled for a period of 44 days where she forcibly received “conversion education”. After her escape, she petitioned to the President of South Korea on 4th of June 2017 for a law banning coercive conversion. Her plea was ignored. She was re-taken captive to a recreational lodge in Hwasun, Jeonnam province, where she died on 29th of December 2017. The autopsy revealed a strong likelihood of cardiac arrest caused by asphyxiation. Her parents are under investigation for having allegedly collaborated with these so-called ‘Christian pastors’ after having admitted their daughter on to the coercive conversion programme.

South Korea, home to more than 1200 victims of coercive conversion, is a supposedly democratic and developed country which enshrines freedom of religion for all under article 20 of its constitution. Through the practice of coercive conversion, people have been confined, shackled and beaten for having refused to renounce their religious beliefs. Coercive conversion programme leaders mask their true identity and use fear to pressure family members into ‘protecting’ their son or daughter. As Ms. Eun Kyung Lim, speaking on behalf of a Korean non-governmental human rights organisation named Human Rights Association for Forced Conversion (HRAFC) argues “Isn’t it nonsense that forced conversion with human rights infringement takes place in a country that is defending freedom of religion by the constitution?” 

Indeed, does the South Korean government not possess or feel a duty or imperative to respond to the voices of its own people? Should it not ensure that peoples’ basic rights are protected according to the constitution and that those responsible are held to account in a court of law? Isn’t religion that which promotes and fosters good-will between one another and deeper understanding of a greater power or Creator?

The plea was made on British soil on 10th of March 2018 in London, UK, at a rally co-hosted by the Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programmes (AVCCP) and International Women’s Peace Group (IWPG). Religious leaders representing the Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Hindu and Jain faiths - along with their communities - gathered in Parliament Square to call on the South Korean government to enact a law that bans coercive conversion. With the practice of forced conversion becoming increasingly common within our own prisons, we must do more to counter religious conversion of any kind before more lives are stolen. Speaking on the UK rally, Vardata Singh from the London Central Gurdwara said: “It was very inspirational, it was a time of great sadness when forced conversion is becoming more widespread in British prisons, it has become almost an epidemic, and the need to protect people’s rights to religious freedom is imperative”

This year, there have been 29 knife fatalities that began with the murder of four young men at a New Year’s Eve party. On Thursday night, a 23-year-old man was fatally stabbed near Plumstead train station in south-east London eight days after a 21-year-old Romanian man had been murdered outside Stratford shopping centre. In London today, one fatality occurs every three days on average, stealing the lives of teenagers as young as 17. At this rate, London will be victim to more than 120 murders by the end of 2018, representing a 50% increase on 2017. Of the 29 fatalities in 2018, none have as yet reached trial. What is the cause for this spate of violence and what can be done to curb it?

There are many contributing factors. 'Postcode wars' - inter-estate conflict where gangs lay out territorial divisions - has claimed dozens of lives since it first emerged in Hackney at the start of the millenium. There are fears that it is rapidly resurging, particularly in the towns and districts of Tottenham, Hackney, Brixton, and Peckham. However, not all victims are affiliated to gangs, as evidenced by the murder of an 18-year-old teen in Woodford on 15th March who was fatally stabbed in the stomach waiting for transportation home after football training. Other causes include social media channels - providing platforms for one's emotion to easily turn into anger as gang members provoke one another - drugs and absent fathers. 

The recent increased spate of violence on the streets of the capital has been countered with a large-scale police operation. 100 armed police officers with dogs were recently dispatched to the streets of Tottenham and Woodford in the borough of Haringey. For the first time in its history, London’s Air Ambulance now treats more victims of knife crime (and shootings) than it does road accidents. In some cases, open chest surgery is performed twice per day on victims of knife crime. There is perhaps no single solution to London's knife culture epidemic. Police operations can likely contain knife crime within one area for a limited period of time, but there's no reason to presume that crimes won't resurge once police vacate the area. It is a stop-gap measure. What is of utmost importance is stopping young people from carrying knives in the first place. Such efforts to achieve this have been made through the 'Save a Life, Surrender Your Knife' initiative implemented in various UK cities whereby knives are surrendered anonymously, as demonstrated in Lancaster.

Additional solutions include increasing prison sentences, especially as there is a particular group of young repeat offenders who are dispensed short-term prison sentences. Longer sentences involving rehabilitative programmes could prevent future harm. ‘Stop and search’,  which empowers the police to stop, question and search someone suspected to be in possession of an illegal weapon (or drugs), has been increased. However, this can (and has on instances) fuel mistrust. Additionally, more capital could be injected into knife prevention initiatives. An advertising campaign has been launched on various social media platforms encouraging young people to go ‘knife free’, and the government has even considered establishing a 'secure school' for young offenders to help deal with the root causes of crime.