Peace – UPF: International Conference Warns of Totalitarian Attacks on Religious Freedom and Human Rights

The clashes between authoritarian regimes and free societies are endangering
people’s religious freedom and human rights everywhere, speakers told the 2nd Conference of Hope for
the Realization of a Heavenly Unified World, co-hosted by the Universal Peace Federation, the
International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP) and The Washington Times
Foundation.

The 2nd Conference of Hope, held in South Korea on December 17, and live streamed to millions of
viewers globally, concluded with a call for people worldwide to sign a Declaration in Support of
Fundamental Human Rights and Human Dignity: Overcoming Threats to Freedom of Thought,
Conscience and Religion.

“We call upon all people throughout the world to affirm this declaration and to
uphold the universal freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and to stand firmly against all forms of
intolerance, prejudice, slander, and hate toward others,” says the declaration.
“Victory over communism is possible, and it is inevitable for a more humane 21st century,” said Hon. Jan
Figel, First Special Envoy for the Promotion of Freedom of Religion, European Union (2016-2019), who
explained that he was named for an uncle who was unjustly killed by Stalin’s secret police in occupied
Czechoslovakia.
Conference of Hope Organizing Chairman Dr. Yun Young-ho opened the event by asking the audience
to remember that human rights “focus on the family, the God-centered family,” as well as the individual.

“Freedom of religion can never be taken for granted. It must always be defended and looked after,” said
Hon. Dan Burton, IAPP Co-Chairman and US Congressman (1983-2013). Religious freedom is “the
human right to think and act upon what one deeply believes, according to the dictates of his or her moral
conscience,” said Bishop Don Meares, Senior Pastor of the Evangel Cathedral in Upper Marlboro,
Maryland, US.
“Freedom of religion is freedom of thought and is an essential foundation of democracy, alongside the
freedoms of speech and assembly,” said Amb.

Suzan Johnson Cook, Ambassador-at-Large for
International Religious Freedom at the US State Department (2011-2013).
“No nation can exist without religion or human rights,” said Hon. Nevers Mumba, Vice President of
Zambia (2003-2004).
Speakers recounted reports of persecution of religious groups—Muslim Uyghurs, Tibetan Buddhists,
Jews, Christians, Muslims, Ahmadis, Bahais, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Yazidis, Rohingyas, Falun Gong, and, more recently, the Family Federation of World Peace and Unification, formerly the Unification
Church, in Japan.

Regimes that veer toward totalitarianism see religion “as a dangerous competitor” and seek to silence or
control it, said Doug Bandow, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, who specializes in foreign policy and
civil liberty. He cited a report from Open Doors (www.opendoorsusa.org), an organization that tracks
religious persecution worldwide, highlighting the oppression carried out by the Chinese Communist Party
(CCP), Afghanistan’s Taliban, the North Korean regime, the Myanmar military junta, and governments in
Eritrea, Cuba, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Laos.
The Chinese people’s protests against the CCP and its “zero-COVID” policies are the ”most widespread
and fervent” the CCP has faced since 1989, said Hon.

Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State (2018-
2021). The world should support these protesters because even if the CCP relaxes its COVID policies, it
“will continue to use its tools of oppression to crush religious freedom,” he said, citing the ongoing
suffering of millions of Muslim Uyghurs in Xinjang and persecution of 100 million Chinese Christians, both
Catholics and Protestants.

China is also policing its people with cell phone tracking devices, facial-recognition technology and
electronic digital currency that the state can control, said Amb. Sam Brownback, US Ambassador-atLarge for International Religious Freedom (2018-2021). “If they’re coming after every one of faith in
China, and expanding these technologies to countries around the world, we’re going to soon be
confronting this in a much larger sphere,” he said, urging nations to stand up to China, politically and
ideologically.
China opposes—and fears—Korean unification because it believes a unified Korea would “align with the
United States” and “slow down—or even block—China’s long-term 100-year strategy” to be the world’s
global superpower, said Dr. Michael Pillsbury, Director of the Center on Chinese Strategy at the Hudson
Institute.

The CCP strictly controls both party members and churches on religious matters, even as it
pursues a five-year plan to rewrite the Bible, change Jesus’ acts, and remake Christianity to match the
CCP’s vision, said Dr. Pillsbury, author of “The Hundred-Year Marathon: China’s Secret Strategy to
Replace America as the Global Superpower,” the best-selling book about China’s ambitious quest for
hegemony.

In Japan, leaders in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) once welcomed the International Federation for
Victory Over Communism (IFVOC), founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, as it helped counter “the threats
[to Japan] from North Korea and China,” said Hon. Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the US House of
Representatives (1995-1999).
Several speakers suggested that the CCP and its allies, such as the Japan Communist Party, are trying
to exploit the tragic July 8 assassination of LDP leader former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Mr. Abe’s
accused assassin is said to have held “a grudge” against the Family Federation over donations his
mother made to the church in the early 2000s. The assassin’s alleged “grudge” has been used by the
media and political officials to ignite public and legislative attacks on religious donations in general, and
the Unification Church in particular.

Mr. Abe “was the mastermind of Japan’s new, robust security and foreign policy, pushing for changes to
the pacifist constitution, creating a defense force that can also be offensive, and forging alliances, like the
Quadrilateral [Security] Dialogue with India, Australia, and the United States,” said former BBC
Correspondent Humphrey Hawksley, who has been tracking the Abe assassination and aftermath.

But that obvious geopolitical agenda has not been raised in Japan’s media, and instead there has been “a
campaign” against the Unification Church, Mr. Hawksley said. In fact, one analysis of 4,238 major
Japanese media articles found that “not one gave a positive angle on the Unification Church,” he said.

According to Yoshio Watanabe, Vice President of IFVOC, the Japan Communist Party has a long history
of clashing with IFVOC, and recently their chairman declared that this is the “final war” against the Family
Federation and IFVOC. “I pledge that the International Federation for Victory Over Communism will put its
life on the line to fight until the end to stop this scheme and to defend Japan’s democracy,” Mr. Watanabe
said.

This hostility was openly expressed in 2007, when the Japanese Communist Party wrote that it wanted
“the Unification Church to be dealt with as a criminal group,” said religious scholar Massimo Introvigne,
Founder and Managing Director, Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR) based in Italy. “Those
who really love religious freedom should stand up and defend it where it is under threat. Today, it is
Japan,” he said.
“Throughout the world there is now a growing network of concerned citizens, leaders and institutions who
are realizing that Japan’s news media is largely driving the social and political lynching of this global
religious community.

We call upon righteous people throughout the world to raise your voices to Japan’s
national leaders in support of fairness, accuracy and human rights,” said Thomas P. McDevitt, Chairman
of The Washington Times and board member of The Washington Times Foundation.
Thae Yong-ho, a former North Korean diplomat who defected to the South and is currently a member of
the National Assembly, called for peace on the Korean Peninsula. Hon. Goodluck Jonathan, president
of Nigeria (2010-2015), called on everyone to “rise up to this challenge” of bringing about world peace.

The conference concluded with a reading and endorsement of the Declaration in Support of
Fundamental Human Rights and Human Dignity by IAPP chapters representing 5,000
parliamentarians from 193 nations.

The Declaration, explained Mr. Burton, “raises awareness of the
growing threats to human rights, particularly the rights to freedom of religion, conscience, and thought,
and asks all people to stand together to overcome threats to these basic freedoms.”
Other international dignitaries who submitted pre-recorded videos or appeared virtually, included: Greyce
Elias, Member of Chamber of Deputies, Brazil; Luc-Adolphe Tiao, Prime Minister, Burkina Faso (2011-
2014); Luis Miranda, City Councillor, Montreal, Canada; Filomena Gonçalves, Minister of Health, Cape
Verde;Issa Mardo Djabir, Member of Parliament, Chad; Ajay Dutt, Member of Delhi Legislative
Assembly, India; Bhubaneswar Kalita, Member of Parliament, India; Hamidou Traore, Vice President,
National Assembly, Mali; Geeta Chhetri, Member of Constituent Assembly, Nepal; Ek Nath Dhakal,
former Minister of Peace and Reconstruction, Nepal; Emilia Alfaro de Franco, Senator and First Lady,
Paraguay (2012-2013); Claude Begle, Member of Parliament, Switzerland (2015-2019); Abdullah
Makame, Member of East Africa Legislative Assembly, Tanzania; Silas Aogon, Member of Parliament,
Uganda; Erinah Rutangya, Member of Parliament, Uganda; Keith Best, Member of Parliament, UK,
(1979-1987); and John Doolittle, Member of US Congress (2003-2007).
The Universal Peace Federation (UPF), founded in 2005 by Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon and Dr. Hak Ja
Han Moon, is an NGO in general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United
Nations.

The IAPP is one of UPF’s pillar organizations, with thousands of members in 193 countries. The
Washington Times Foundation, founded in 1984 in Washington, D.C., hosts many programs, including a
monthly webcast “The Washington Brief,” to gather expert commentary on issues relating to global peace
and security.

Conference of Hope programs seek to shore up foundational values—freedom of religion, speech, and
assembly—and promote global peace and security, especially on the Korean Peninsula.