China: United Nations committee determines Christians at risk of torture

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT) has determined that Christians in China are at risk of being tortured by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government authorities, religious rights publication Bitter Winter reports.

Responsible for monitoring state parties’ implementation of the Convention against Torture, CAT made its determination about Chinese Christians through its ruling in the landmark case of a Church of Almighty God (CAG) asylum seeker in Switzerland, on July 27, 2021, BW said.

In requesting that Switzerland refrain from deporting the female asylum seeker back to China, the CAT determined that it is not only members of prohibited religious movements such CAG that are vulnerable to violent persecution, but Christians in China in general, BW reports.

The UN body found there is evidence of “increasing incidence of persecution of Christians in China,” that torture is used, and that “it is reasonable to assume that the complainant’s removal to China would put her at risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

In a statement about the impact of the CAT determination, Bitter Winter said: ”Hopefully, this landmark decision will conclusively establish that members of “illegal” Christian groups, including (but not limited to) Christian new religious movements such as the CAG, are at risk of torture in China, and that immigration authorities and courts of law in democratic countries will take it into account.”

China ranks 17 on the US Open Doors Watchlist of top 50 countries where Christians are persecuted.

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