Human Rights Archives - The Virginia Star

Commentary: Christianity, Capitalism, and Colonialism Are Nothing to Be Ashamed Of

June 9, 2024 Virginia Star Staff

We’ve all heard the rhetorical attacks on Western Civilization—often centered on Christianity, capitalism, or colonialism, and often on all three. Among radical leftists, the consensus is that these elements are evil, but given that each is currently or historically integral to civilization as we know it, it’s worth examining the data to determine whether they deserve to be so despised.

First, Christianity. A 2018 study found that religion was “the decisive background factor” determining how much human rights were respected in any given country. And not all religions had the same impact. The percentage of Christians in the population was closely associated with a nation upholding human rights, whereas the percentage of Muslims was the opposite—that is, Muslim countries were less likely to uphold such rights. Another study reached similar conclusions about the effects of Christianity vis-à-vis Islam on nations’ ranking in the Good Country Index. (The index measures countries’ “contributions to global prosperity in domains such as peace, climate and health.”)

Commentary: Suit Against Tech Giant Shines Light on U.S. Complicity in Chinese Torture

August 9, 2023 RealClearWire

The wheels of justice often turn slowly, but when it comes to U.S. corporate complicity in China’s record of religious persecution, human rights activists say they are finally picking up speed and moving in the right direction.

Top reformers in Washington, D.C., are heralding a recent twist in a 12-year legal battle that could have far-reaching implications for all U.S. companies that have sold surveillance or tracking technology to China.

GOP Rep Demands State Department Rescue Chinese and American Christians Detained in Thailand

April 3, 2023 Admin

A Republican congressman is calling on the State Department to intervene on behalf of Chinese and American Christians detained by Thai police currently facing imprisonment in China, according to a letter obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Thai police arrested 63 members of the Shenzhen Holy Reformed Church, also known as the Mayflower Church, for overstaying their visas during an early morning raid in Pattaya, Thailand, on Thursday. They are now preparing to deport the Chinese congregants, along with two women from Texas who’d been visiting church members, back to China, where they face imprisonment and likely torture, ChinaAid, a Christian human rights group, told the DCNF.

Why We March: Historic 50th March for Life, First in Post-Roe Era

January 19, 2023 Susan Berry, PhD

Thousands of pro-life Americans and advocates from other nations will gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Friday to celebrate the 50th March for Life, the first since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Chinese Representative Pushes Propaganda at College Campus Event

October 31, 2022October 30, 2022 Virginia Star Staff

The Eisenhower Institute at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania invited a representative of the People’s Republic of China, General Jin Qian, to speak with students and faculty in a private meeting held on Oct. 6.

The purpose of this event was to open a respectful dialogue with the Chinese Deputy Consul General and others about Chinese and United States diplomatic relations and foreign perspectives.

Captured Russian Soldier Says He Realized Moscow Lied When His Favorite Boxers Joined the Resistance

March 8, 2022March 8, 2022 Admin

Ukrainian Protests Continue into the weekend for now it's 5th day, with actions happening at Trafalgar and the Russian Embassy.

A Russian prisoner of war claimed Moscow lied to soldiers before sending them to invade Ukraine.

Lieutenant Colonel Astakhov Dmitry Mikhailovich said soldiers were told Ukraine was “dominated by a fascist regime” and that “nationalists and Nazis had seized power,” according to a translation by the New York Post. He made the accusations during a media conference Thursday alongside two other captured Russian soldiers.

He explained that when he entered Ukraine and saw his favorite boxers, Ukrainians Oleksandr Usyk and Vasiliy Lomachenko, join the resistance, his doubts about the reasons for the invasion were amplified, the NYP reported.

Tech Companies Struggle in Complicated Relationship with Communist China

February 6, 2022February 5, 2022 The Center Square

A new report from Victims of Communism gives several American tech companies a failing grade for their “complicity” with China and its human rights violations, an ongoing controversy for tech companies which often rely on the nation’s cheaper labor and large market to pad their profits.

The report examines Amazon, Apple, Dell, Facebook, GE, Google, Intel, and Microsoft on a range of issues, including to what degree they partner with China’s surveillance state and human rights violations.

State Department Partners with Refugee Coalition Groups Supporting Organizations with Alleged Terror Ties

October 30, 2021October 29, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The U.S. State Department joined an initiative to welcome Afghan refugees into the country that is sponsored by organizations supporting groups with possible ties to Palestinian terrorist organizations, a Daily Caller News Foundation review found.

Welcome.US is part of the Office of American Possibilities initiative, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, according to its website. The initiative’s main co-chairs include former President Barack Obama, former First Lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush, former First Lady Laura Bush, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The initiative also formed a coalition composed of nonprofit leaders and organizations, former government officials, corporate leaders and public figures. Businesses, including Starbucks, Uber, Facebook, Microsoft, Walmart and Airbnb, also support the effort.

Over 3,200 Migrants Waiting to Enter the U.S. Have Been Attacked in Mexico Since Biden Took Office: Report

June 24, 2021June 23, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

More than 3,200 migrants were attacked in Mexico while waiting to enter the U.S. since President Joe Biden took office, an advocacy organization announced Monday.

Around 3,250 asylum-seeking migrants who were either prevented from entering or expelled from the U.S. to Mexico were targets of kidnapping, rape, human trafficking, sexual assault and armed assault from Jan. 20 through June 17, according to advocacy group Human Rights First.

“Violent attacks against asylum seekers and migrants unable to reach safety in the United States due to the failure of the Biden administration to uphold refugee law and restart asylum processing continue to rise,” the organization said in a statement.

Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Nestle, Cargill in Human Rights Lawsuit

June 21, 2021June 20, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Nestle USA and Cargill could not be sued for alleged human rights abuses that occurred overseas.

The plaintiffs, six Mali citizens enslaved as children on Ivory Coast cocoa farms supplying the food giants, sued Nestle and Cargill for damages, alleging the companies had aided and profited from child labor. The court ruled the corporations could not be sued for the overseas abuses.

“Nearly all the conduct they allege aided and abetted forced labor—providing training, equipment, and cash to overseas farmers—occurred in the Ivory Coast,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion.

Idaho University Campus Ministry Students Encouraged to Take ‘Anti-Racist’ Classes

June 21, 2021June 20, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Two students walking on Northwest Nazarene University campus

A Christian university’s Student Government Association is recommending students take “helpful classes” related to “anti-racism.”

The Northwest Nazarene University Student Government Association sent out an email referring students to an anti-racism guide that promoted several social justice courses. This document, sent out in an October 19, 2020, email obtain by Campus Reform, was authored by SGA Campus Ministries.

This anti-racism guide contains a long list of poems, books, videos, and articles on the topic of racism. Many of these resources originate from widely-known proponents of critical race theory, such as Ibram X. Kendi and Robin Di’Angelo.

Putin Flatly Denies That He’s Behind Recent U.S. Cyberattacks

June 15, 2021June 14, 2021 Virginia Star Staff

Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that he was behind the recent cyberattacks across the United States, calling the allegations against him “farcical.”

“We have been accused of all kinds of things,” Putin told NBC News Monday. “Election interference, cyberattacks and so on and so forth. And not once, not once, not one time, did they bother to produce any kind of evidence or proof. Just unfounded accusations.”

Russian intelligence and Russian-speaking groups have launched wide-ranging cyberattacks in recent months, affecting American consumer goods ranging from gasoline to meat. President Joe Biden imposed sweeping sanctions against Russia in April after U.S. intelligence determined that Putin personally ordered a massive SolarWinds hack on federal agencies and for his interference in the 2020 presidential election.

Hong Kong’s Pro-Democracy Lawmakers to Resign En Masse

November 12, 2020November 11, 2020 The Associated Press

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy lawmakers announced Wednesday they would resign en masse after four of them were ousted from the semiautonomous Chinese territory’s Legislature in a move one legislator said could sound the “death knell” for democracy there.

The resignation of the 15 remaining pro-democracy lawmakers will ratchet up tensions over the future of Hong Kong, a former British colony that has long been a regional financial hub and bastion of Western-style civil liberties but over which China’s government has increasingly tightened its control. A new national security law imposed by Beijing this year has alarmed the international community.

China Calls Claims of Forced Uighur Sterilizations ‘Fabrication’

October 4, 2020October 3, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

A Chinese government spokesperson denied allegations that China forcibly sterilizes their Uighur Muslim population, calling it a “fabrication” in a Thursday statement.

The spokesperson for the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations accused Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of “fabricating lies against China and creating political confrontation” in a statement released during the United Nations General Assembly’s 25th Anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women.

‘Unbearable Screams’: Uighurs Accuse China of Crimes Against Humanity, File International Court Complaint

September 10, 2020September 9, 2020 Virginia Star Staff

Two Uighur organizations filed a complaint against China in the International Criminal Court alleging crimes against humanity and repression of minorities.

The International Criminal Court complaint represents the first time members of the minority group have attempted to hold the Chinese government accountable for alleged repression policies, according to NBC News. Uighurs are a minority group of Muslim Turkic ethnicity numbering 11 million who mainly live in China’s Xinjiang region, according to BBC News.