Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney Irish officials skipped an international meeting highlighting persecuted Christians, Tánaiste Simon Coveney has admitted to the Dáil. He did not give an explanation when questioned by Fianna Fáil’s Seán Haughey.
The Second International Conference on Christian Persecution met in Hungary at the end of November and heard from Christians from the Middle East and other hot spots of persecution.
Mr Coveney confirmed that officials from his Foreign Affairs Department did not attend and said “the EU was represented at the conference”.
Despite the fact that Christians are the most persecuted minority in the world, Minister Coveney did not address the issue of Christian persecution but chose to speak about religious persecution in general.
“Ireland strongly condemns all forms of persecution on the basis of religion or belief, irrespective of where they occur or who the victims are.
“We are committed to promoting freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as the rights of persons belonging to religious minorities. This commitment to promoting freedom of religion or belief is reaffirmed in the Global Island: Ireland’s Foreign Policy for a Changing World,” he said.
Reasons
Opening the Budapest conference, Hungarian State Secretary for the Aid of Persecuted Christians Tristan Azbej told delegates: “We have 245 million reasons to be here. This is how many people are persecuted daily because of their Christian belief.”
At the same gathering, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán observed that 80% of religious persecution worldwide targets Christians, while Europe’s Christian politicians quietly stand by.
“Four out of five people persecuted for their faith are Christians,” said Mr Orbán, “and over and over Europe remains silent.”
“A mysterious force shuts the mouths of European politicians and cripples their arms,” he added. “Christians are not allowed to be mentioned on their own, only together with other groups that are being persecuted for their faiths.”