These words were delivered by the late Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, for the second observance of the Holocaust Victims Memorial Day on 19 January 2008. The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 60/7 established 27 January as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, urging every member state to honour the memory of the estimated six million European Jewish victims and to encourage the development of educational programmes to help prevent future tragedies.

However, in spite of such a resolution, human rights violations continue unabated for millions of people all over the world today in many forms. One such form is the persecution of religious minorities - not only within developing and under-developed countries - but within the supposedly constitutional and democratic Republic of Korea today. According to the Human Rights Association for Victims of Coercive Conversion Programs (HAC), the coercive conversion practice - created and implemented by pastors of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) - has led to the deaths of two women and kidnappings of over 1250 (mainly young) Koreans. Pastors deceive parents into making them believe that their son or daughter has fallen into a cult with the intention being to forcibly convert him or her from one Christian denomination to another. It is an outright violation of human rights disguised beneath the veil of religion.

And such attempts at coercive conversion show no sign of letting up in South Korea - a country that has freedom of religion guaranteed by its Constitution. Since Ms. Gu’s death on 9^th January 2018 - and in spite of the subsequent rallies held worldwide calling for a ban on coercive conversion and for pastors to be brought to justice, as well as the publication in the New York Times - there have been 147 confirmed cases of coercive conversion. Most recently, a woman in her forties who had been confined for one week in an isolated lodge in Pocheon, Gyeonggi-do, and subjected to coercive conversion, was rescued.

It is unacceptable for the Korean government to label this issue as “familial” or “religious” in nature and to take no action. We must continue to rally and speak out against such injustices so that this practice - and any act that violates one’s human rights - will come to an end.

#CCK #HAC #Human_Rights #Coercive_Conversion_Program #Rally