Church – Reports

• Church – FCRA

1. Human Eights no excuse to defy law: MHA

Key Points:

1. Human rights cannot be an excuse for defying the law of the land, India’s Ministry of Home Affairs stated in response to the Amnesty International decision to halt its operations in the country.
2. The Amnesty International on September 29 halted India Operations after the government freezed all its bank accounts. The government said that the statements made by Amnesty International are unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth. The Amnesty had alleged that the government move against it was part of various repressive policies and sustained assault by the government on those who speak truth to power.
3. Terming the Amnesty statement “unfortunate, exaggerated and far from the truth,” the Indian government said that the international NGO had received permission under the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) only once and that too twenty years ago. Since then Amnesty International, despite its repeated applications, has been denied FCRA approval by successive governments since it was not eligible to get such an approval, the ministry explained.
4. The government further states that, in order to circumvent the FCRA regulations, Amnesty UK remitted large amounts of money to four entities registered in India, by classifying it as Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
5. “Owing to these illegal practices of Amnesty, the previous government had also rejected the repeated applications of Amnesty to receive funds from overseas. This had led Amnesty to suspend its India operations once during that period as well. This bipartisan and purely legal approach towards Amnesty, under different governments, makes it clear that the entire fault lies in the dubious processes adopted by Amnesty to secure funds for its operations,” the statement added.
6. “All the glossy statements about humanitarian work and speaking truth to power are nothing but a ploy to divert attention from their activities which were in clear contravention of laid down Indian laws. Such statements are also an attempt to extraneously influence the course of investigations by multiple agencies into the irregularities and illegalities carried out over the last few years.” The MHA stated.
7. “Amnesty is free to continue humanitarian work in India, as is being done by many other organizations. However, India, by settled law, does not allow interference in domestic political debates by entities funded by foreign donations. This law applies equally to all and it shall apply to Amnesty International as well. India has a rich and pluralistic democratic culture with a free press, independent judiciary and tradition of vibrant domestic debate. The people of India have placed unprecedented trust in the current government. Amnesty’s failure to comply with local regulations does not entitle them to make comments on the democratic and plural character of India,” it added.

(mattersindia.com, 30 September 2020) (News Link)

• Church – China

1. Vatican defends Chinese bishop negotiations on eve of Mike Pompeo’s visit

Key Points:

1. The Vatican on Tuesday answered its critics and defended its pursuit of an extended agreement with China on bishop nominations, acknowledging difficulties but insisting the effort had achieved limited, positive results. The Holy See articulated its position on the eve of a visit by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who this month wrote a harsh critique of the Vatican’s 2018 accord with China and suggested the Vatican had compromised its moral authority by signing it.
2. “The Provisional Agreement exclusively treats the process for the appointment of bishops: an essential question for the life of the church and for the necessary communion between the pastors of the Chinese Catholic Church with the bishop of Rome and with the bishops throughout the world,” Tornielli wrote in an editorial appearing in Wednesday’s edition of the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

(DeccanHerald.com, 30 September 2020)  (News Link)