JÁN FIGEĽ
The First Slovak
European Commissioner
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EU Slams Britain: ISIS Is Committing Genocide And You’re Doing Nothing
Boris Johnson is under fire from the EU’s special envoy on religious freedom over the failure to describe ISIS atrocities against Christians and Yazidis as “genocide”, Christian Today can reveal. In an interview in Brussels on Thursday Ján Figel, the European Union’s special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion and belief, criticised the…
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International Protection of Religious Freedom
The Pew Research Center estimates that 77% of the world’s population lives in countries that experience a high or very high level of religious restrictions, and other studies reveal that such restrictions increase social violence and migration. Concerns about global religious freedom have prompted a variety of responses from Western democracies. For instance, the European…
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Syrian religious leaders in Brussels: “We want to live in our land, we don’t want to leave”
Jan Figel, the EU Special Envoy for Religious Freedom and Belief outside the EU, met with Syrian religious leaders in Brussels, led by H.E. Patriarch Gregorios III Laham, Spiritual leader of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, H.E. Georges Abou Zakhem, Most Reverend Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Homs and H.E. Selwanos Boutros Alnemeh,…
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Ján Figeľ’s speech at the 23rd Annual International Law and Religion Symposium at BYU
EUROPEAN UNION AND FoRB: A NEW MOMENTUM Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is with a great pleasure to be here today. Our symposium is an excellent opportunity to discuss the changing nature of religious rights under international law, as well as recent political development on both sides of Atlantic with regard to the protection of…
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EU and Freedom of Religion or Belief: A new Momentum
Ladies and Gentlemen, In the midst of current multilayer crisis – we see compounded migration crisis, security crisis with crisis of our values, the dialogue is the space where we can find an answer. It requires not uniformity, but a unity that can harmonise even divergent views. We should recall that the roots of the…
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Jan Figel: Ongoing genocide in Middle East is a much greater security threat than climate change’
Written by Martin Banks on 11 August 2016 in News Jan Figel, the first special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU, has voiced concern at the “genocide” of Christian, Yezidi, Shia Muslim and other communities in the Middle East. Figel, formerly European education, training and culture Commissioner, said…
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Jan Figel: Ongoing genocide in Middle East ‘a much greater security threat than climate change
Jan Figel, the first special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU, has voiced concern at the “genocide” of Christian, Yezidi, Shia Muslim and other communities in the Middle East. Figel, formerly European education, training and culture Commissioner, said that the “killings of innocent people” required an “urgent reaction”…
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“Action for Religious Freedom is a Moral Obligation”
Interview by FOREF Europe with Dr. Ján Figeľ, EU Special Envoy for the promotion of FoRB Vienna, 03.08.2016 (FOREF Europe) – During his short stay in Vienna, Ján Figeľ, the first Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union, met with Peter Zoehrer, the executive director of FOREF…
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A Welcome Surprise: The First EU Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief Outside the EU
On Friday 6 May, whilst Brussels was enjoying a bank holiday, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker announced the appointment of ex-Commissioner Jan Figel as the first EU Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) outside the EU. Why has this appointment been made? This appointment followed a little noticed paragraph in the European…
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Servizio Informazione Religiosa: Jàn Figel, flag bearer of religious freedom in the world. “We seek answers in dialogue and we find them”
The president of the Juncker Commission entrusts the Slovakian politician with the promotion and safeguarding of believers beyond the frontiers of the European Community. Respect for religions, he states, is the “primary condition for a more humane world in the XXIst century “The freedom of religion and belief is a fundamental right at the base…