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<ul><li>The National Commission of Women recommended the abolition of the practice of ‘confession’ in churches as the priests are alleged to be using their secrets to blackmail and sexually exploit the women.</li><li>The recommendations come after such a case took place in the <keyword id="602746" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Malankara-Orthodox-Syrian-Church">Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church</keyword>. </li><li>The commission also believes a central agency needs to investigate the increasing incidents of rape and sexual assaults on women in the churches of Kerala.</li></ul>The National Commission of Women (NWC) recommended the abolition of the practice of <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/abolish-practice-of-confessions-in-churches-says-national-commission-of-women/story-VNFV0rFqC8AgtxcHO5ZP7L.html">‘confession’ </a>in churches as it can lead to these women getting blackmailed by the priests. The chairperson of NCW, Rekha Sharma, also believes that a central agency needs to direct a proper investigation into the increasing incidents of rape and sexual exploitation on women in Kerala churches. The recommendations come in the backdrop of the case against <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/priest-held-three-others-to-surrender-in-kerala-sexual-assault-case/story-YvDRfrwbdQuvegiiIZ59vM.html"> Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church</a> where four priests have been accused of sexually exploiting a married woman belonging to their church and of blackmailing her. The priests said that they would reveal her secrets, that they got to know of during her ‘<keyword id="47124" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Confessions">confessions</keyword>’, if she spoke up about her assault. The matter came to light when her husband wrote a letter to the church complaining against the priests. The woman was also socially harassed and had to leave her teaching job as her photograph was circulated on social media. NCW had constituted an inquiry committee to note the alleged sexual assaults propagated against women in churches. The commission has sent the findings to the prime minister, the union home minister, union women and child development minister and the DGPs of Kerala and Punjab. In another incident, last month, a nun, in the <keyword id="6385572" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="kottayam">Kottayam</keyword> district, alleged that Jalandhar Bishop Franco Mulakkal raped her and had unnatural sex with her multiple times between 2014 and 2016. Several such case have been coming up lately.

NWC wants to abolish ‘confessions’ in church for the protection of women

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Former Rep. Justin Amash said several relatives were killed in Israeli airstrikes on a Gaza church.</li><li>Gazan authorities said that hundreds of Palestinians were sheltering at the church.</li></ul>Former Rep. Justin Amash said that several of his relatives were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Saint Porphyrius Orthodox Church in Gaza.He said "with great sadness" he had confirmed his relatives had died, including Viola and Yara, who he shared a photograph of on <a href="https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/1715470077196194068?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">X</a>, formerly known as Twitter. He did not specify how he was related to them.Amash said his relatives were sheltering in the church, which is Gaza's oldest, when an airstrike destroyed part of the complex."The Palestinian Christian community has endured so much. Our family is hurting badly. May God watch over all Christians in Gaza—and all Israelis and Palestinians who are suffering, whatever their religion or creed," Amash wrote.Amash served as the US representative for Michigan's 3rd congressional district from 2011 to 2021, initially as a Republican and then as an independent.He was born in Michigan to Palestinian and Syrian Christian parents who had immigrated to the United States.An explosion struck the church in Gaza on Thursday evening, where hundreds of displaced Palestinians were sheltering, the enclave's Hamas-controlled authorities said.At least 18 people were killed in the attack, according to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/20/we-were-baptised-here-and-we-will-die-here-gazas-oldest-church-bombed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Al Jazeera.</a>The church's owners, the Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, <a href="https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/blog/2023/10/20/the-patriarchate-of-jerusalem-condemns-israeli-airstrikes-targeting-humanitarian-institutions-in-gaza/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">condemned the attack</a> in a statement and said it constituted a "war crime.""Targeting churches and their institutions, along with the shelters they provide to protect innocent citizens, especially children, and women who have lost their homes due to Israeli airstrikes on residential areas over the past thirteen days, constitutes a war crime that cannot be ignored," the statement said.The Israel Defense Forces confirmed that "a wall of a church in the area was damaged" as a result of the IDF strike, in a statement to <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-10-20-23/h_144c4c17944bdd881e21ef361491235c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>.They said that IDF fighter jets struck a "command and control center belonging to a Hamas terrorist involved in the launching of rockets and mortars toward Israel.""We are aware of reports on casualties. The incident is under review," the statement read.Israel has bombarded Gaza with airstrikes following the deadly Hamas attacks on October 7, which killed at least 1,400 Israelis.Subsequent strikes on Gaza have killed<a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/10/1142592" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener"> 3,785 people,</a> according to the enclave's authorities.

A former US congressman says several family members were killed in Israel airstrikes on Gaza church

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image">Russian Media</div></div></div>As Russia continues to deepen its military involvement in Syria, the conflict has increasingly taken on religious dimensions. In the above photo, an Orthodox priest blesses Russian missiles intended for airstrikes against Syrian rebels. <a href="https://twitter.com/Noah_Browning/status/653250060398886914">According</a> to Reuters reporter Noah Browning, the priest is sprinkling holy water on the missile before it is put aboard a Russian plane. The blessing of missiles comes after Patriarch Kirill, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/putin-might-seem-like-the-man-with-the-plan-but-hell-be-disappointed-in-syria-2015-9">declared</a> that Russia's intervention in Syria, which is aimed at the rebels currently aligned against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, is a "holy battle." "Russia took a responsible decision to use military forces to protect the Syrian people from the woes brought on by the tyranny of terrorists," Kirill said. Russia has been carrying out a high tempo of airstrikes largely against nationalist Syrian rebels, with few strikes against ISIS, since September 30. Moscow has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-biggest-sign-yet-that-russia-is-prepared-for-a-long-military-operation-in-syria-2015-10">signaled</a> that it is in for the long haul in the country after having moved large supplies of aircraft, tanks, munitions, and even singers and dancers for entertainment to Syria. Moscow has declared that its intervention is aimed at defeating ISIS, but maps of Russian airstrikes seem to indicate that Russia is significantly more interested in propping up the Assad regime than destroying the Islamic State. <div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><a href="http://iswresearch.blogspot.com/2015/10/russian-airstrikes-in-syria-september_12.html?utm_source=Russian+Airstrikes+in+Syria%3A+September+30+-+October+12%2C+2015&amp;utm_campaign=Russian+Airstrikes+in+Syria%3A+September+30+-+October+12%2C+2015&amp;utm_medium=email">Institute for the Study of War</a></div></div></div> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/pablo-escobar-cocaines-biggest-kingpin-life-death-2015-9">Pablo Escobar: The life and death of one of the biggest cocaine kingpins in history</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="phNnBrdzpKXE2oFtDyJRVBKwhim_ZHgP" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

PHOTO: An Orthodox priest blesses Russian missiles for airstrikes in Syria

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Russian President&#xa0;Vladimir Putin has emerged as a hero of several prominent alt-right figures, raising new questions&#xa0;about the Kremlin's influence on the far-right, white nationalist movement that has asserted itself as a new force in American <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword>.Whether Russia has played a direct role in awakening the American alt-right, whose resurgence as a crusade against establishment politics coincided with the rise of President-elect Donald Trump, is debatable. But the extent to which the alt-right has found a natural ally in Russia's current zeitgeist - which perceives the US as a globalist, imperialist power working on behalf of liberal elites - is hard to overstate. Self-described white nationalist&#xa0;Matthew Heimbach, who said he identifies as a member of the alt-right, has praised Putin's Russia as "the axis for nationalists.""I really believe that Russia is the leader of the&#xa0;free world right now," Heimbach told Business Insider in a recent interview. "Putin is&#xa0;supporting nationalists around the world and building an anti-globalist alliance, while promoting traditional values and self-determination." Heimbach described the US' current foreign policy as aggressive and imperialistic, and he criticized&#xa0;NATO's military buildup in eastern Europe as an example of how the US is trying to promote a "global conflict" with Russia.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>And while&#xa0;he views Russia as a "model for civilization" and "a beacon for nationalists," Heimbach emphasized that the&#xa0;movement goes beyond Russia and traditional left-right politics.&#xa0;"This isn't just a European or a right-wing movement," he said. "We're trying to position ourselves to be a part of this worldwide movement of globalism versus nationalism. It's a new age."Like Heimbach, alt-right leader Richard Spencer - the head of the white nationalist think tank the National Policy Institute - has argued that the US should dispense with its globalist policies by pulling out of NATO, resetting its relationship with Russia, and courting Syrian President&#xa0;Bashar al-Assad, whom he has described as "a civilized person" and "source of stability in this chaotic world."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Spencer's ties to Russia, which he has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-moves-praise-for-putin-closer-to-the-mainstream-of-the-gop/2016/09/09/ccf2853c-7693-11e6-8149-b8d05321db62_story.html?postshare=4631473515008779&amp;tid=ss_tw">called</a> the "sole white power in the world," go deeper. He was married until October to Russian writer and self-proclaimed "Kremlin troll leader" Nina Kouprianova, whose writing under the pen name Nina Byzantina regularly aligns with Kremlin talking points.For example: Byzantina recently described&#xa0;reports that thousands of civilians in rebel-held east Aleppo, Syria, are under siege by the Russia-backed Syrian government as "<a href="https://twitter.com/NinaByzantina/status/802908939251810304">fake news.</a>"The webzine Spencer founded&#xa0;in 2010 - called Alternative Right - accepted contributor pieces from&#xa0;Aleksandr Dugin, the far-right, ultra-nationalist politician who encouraged Putin's incursion into Ukraine and whose work has been translated into English by Byzantina&#xa0;<a href="https://ninabyzantina.com/tag/alexander-dugin/">on her blog</a>. (It does have a caveat: "The views of the original author do not necessarily reflect those of the translator.")Dugin also recorded&#xa0;a speech titled "To My American Friends in Our Common Struggle" for a nationalist conference organized by Heimbach last year in California. <h2>'The greatest enemy of tradition everywhere'</h2>A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/world/europe/right-wing-groups-find-a-haven-for-a-day-in-russia.html?_r=1">right-wing conference in St. Petersburg, Russia</a>,&#xa0;organized last year by Russia's nationalist Rodina, or Motherland, party offered a safe space for fringe thinkers - including white supremacists and anti-Semites - to gather and rail against the US-led status quo.There, American&#xa0;"race realist" Jared Taylor&#xa0;<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/03/24/americans-abroad-dickson-taylor-attend-russian-white-nationalist-conference">called</a><a href="https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/03/24/americans-abroad-dickson-taylor-attend-russian-white-nationalist-conference">&#xa0;the US</a> "the greatest enemy of tradition everywhere."&#xa0;Klu Klux Klan attorney Sam Dickson also attended, and he joined Taylor in calling for the preservation of "[the white] race and civilization."Heimbach&#xa0;agreed that the US has "poisoned" traditional values, but he insisted that his brand of white nationalism is distinct from white supremacy. "We work actively with other ethnic groups&#xa0;to support their right to self-determination," Heimbach said, listing black nationalism and the full autonomy of Native Americans as two causes that&#xa0;his party&#xa0;actively supports.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Still, white supremacy - manifested frequently as anti-Semitism - is inextricably linked to the worldview of many alt-right&#xa0;admirers of Putin's Russia.David Duke, the former grand wizard&#xa0;of the Ku Klux Klan, has traveled to Russia several times to promote his book "The Ultimate Supremacism: My Awakening on the Jewish Question." The book has been sold openly in the main lobby of the State Duma (Congress) for the equivalent of about $2, according to the&#xa0;Anti-Defamation League. Preston Wiginton, a white supremacist from Texas who sublets Duke's Moscow apartment when he travels to Russia,&#xa0;has written that his "best friends" in Russia - "the only nation that understands RAHOWA [Racial Holy War]" -&#xa0;are "leading skinheads."Last year, he invited the ultranationalist Dugin to speak at his alma mater, Texas A&amp;M University. This year he invited Spencer, who <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/r-white-nationalist-leaders-speech-sparks-protests-at-texas-university-2016-12">spoke there</a> on Tuesday.&#xa0;<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Kevin MacDonald - who gave a speech at Spencer's NPI in late November about how "Jews remade America in their interests ... to make white&#xa0;America comfortable with massive non-white immigration and its own dispossession" - <a href="http://www.theoccidentalobserver.net/2015/03/nearly-all-the-leaders-of-the-liberal-opposition-in-russia-are-either-fully-jewish-or-have-jewish-background/">has written</a> that the "demonization of Russia in Western media and political circles" is a Jewish campaign to undermine Putin."Russia under Vladimir Putin," he wrote, "has proved to be far more nationalistic than is good for the Jews or for Israel."Heimbach, whose Traditionalist Workers Party was&#xa0;deemed an extremist group by the <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/traditionalist-workers-party">Southern Poverty Law Center</a>,&#xa0;pushed back against claims that he is anti-Semitic. But he said&#xa0;he believes&#xa0;"the organized Jewish community" is heavily involved in "supporting movements that want to destroy nationalism.""We call out those who are doing things that are hurting&#xa0;our people and are hurting the planet," he said, including "Jewish conglomerates" who are "ruthless cosmopolitans" and&#xa0;"don't have a home anywhere." <h2>'Putin as the savior of Christian civilization'</h2>The&#xa0;perception of Putin as a "lion of Christianity" is another prominent feature of the alt-right's affection for the Russian&#xa0;leader.Christopher Stroop, a scholar whose work centers around modern Russian history, has characterized many of today's alt-right figures as&#xa0;<a href="http://www.caseymichel.com/blog/2016/8/1/the-rise-of-russias-traditionalist-international">'Traditionalist International"</a>&#xa0;- a&#xa0;movement centered around the supremacy and "shared blood" of white Christians inspired largely by Russia's religious, nationalist turn&#xa0;spearheaded by Putin at the start of his third term.Putin has&#xa0;stirred up Russian nationalism by cultivating a closer relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church, which in turn has helped "project Russia as the natural ally of all those who pine for a more secure, illiberal world free from the tradition-crushing rush of globalization, multiculturalism and women's and gay rights," The&#xa0;New York Times' Andrew Higgins <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/europe/russia-orthodox-church.html?_r=0">wrote in September</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>In July, Putin&#xa0;outlawed&#xa0;religious proselytizing in a crackdown on&#xa0;non-government-aligned churches.&#xa0;The Russian Orthodox Church was exempted from the ban."As the Russian Federation has drifted back to its Soviet roots more and more over the past 25 years, it has increasingly sought to harass, persecute, and destroy any religious organization that it might consider competition to its own 'state church,'"&#xa0;<a href="http://www.newsweek.com/putin-goes-war-russia-free-churches-482730">said&#xa0;</a><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/putin-goes-war-russia-free-churches-482730">Archbishop Andrew Maklakov</a>, the administrator of the Russian Orthodox Autonomous Church of America.Heimbach, who was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church with his wife two years ago,&#xa0;views Putin as fighting for the same values - "faith, family, and folk" - that guide&#xa0;his&#xa0;own party."To rebuild a nation, you have to be able to build up the people," Heimbach said. "And that requires having a strong moral foundation. Putin is fighting for faith, family, and folk. The fact that he's rebuilt tens of thousands of churches, allowed religious services to be broadcast on national television - all of that has been crucial to rebuilding Russia."It has also been crucial to exporting Russia's "Slavophile version of moral superiority to the world," <a href="http://www.caseymichel.com/blog/2016/8/1/the-rise-of-russias-traditionalist-international">Stroop said</a>,&#xa0;through&#xa0;figures like Alexsandr Dugin and institutions like the World Congress of Families (WCF).The WCF, a US coalition that promotes right-wing Christian values, played a leading role in advocating for Russia's 2013 anti-LGBT&#xa0;law that makes it illegal to expose minors to&#xa0;LGBT "propaganda."Larry Jacobs, WCF's managing director who first traveled to Russia in 2010 to attend a conference hosted by the Russian Sancity of Motherhood organization,&#xa0;<a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/globalizing-homophobia-part-4-the-world-congress-of-families-and-russias-christian-saviors/">has said</a> that&#xa0;"the Russians might be the Christian saviors of the world." Former Fox <keyword id="6355005" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="News">News</keyword> producer Jack Hanick, who serves on the WCF planning committee and spoke at the third Sanctity of Motherhood conference in Moscow in November 2013, <a href="http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/93209.htm">was baptized</a> into the Russian Orthodox Church earlier this year along with his wife and son.&#xa0;<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>"Modern Russia has returned to its Christian roots," Hanick wrote in an article for the New York Observer <a href="http://observer.com/2015/08/can-the-united-states-stop-a-war-with-russia/">last year</a>."There is a revival in Russian Orthodoxy with over 25,000 new churches built in Russia after the fall of Communism," he said.&#xa0;"On any Sunday, the churches are packed. Over 70% of the population identifies themselves as Orthodox Christians. Combine this religious revival with renewed Nationalism and Russia is growing in self-confidence."Stroop noted that Americans involved with the World Congress of Families "have been looking to Russia as having the potential to 'save' Western civilization for a long time.""Based on quotations from&#xa0;white nationalists and racists like Matthew Heimbach and [televangelist] Pat Buchanan," Stroop added,&#xa0;"I'd say they've certainly looked to Putin as the savior of Christian civilization."For Heimbach, Putin's brand of orthodoxy, which opposes same-sex&#xa0;marriage,&#xa0;abortion, and&#xa0;globalism, "is the last&#xa0;institution standing for traditional values."<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>And he's happy to see Putin working hard to export those values, even if that may be perceived as meddlesome and globalist in its own right."Putin is supporting traditionalism and self-determination, so meddle away," Heimbach said,&#xa0;laughing. "He&#xa0;is giving nationalists an opportunity to fight for the best interests of their nations, which in my view is a positive thing for everyone."Stroop said&#xa0;that while&#xa0;Putin's embrace of&#xa0;traditional values in his third term "may have been initially about turning to Russian populism, it's really hard to separate foreign from domestic policy in this context" - something&#xa0;the Kremlin hasn't tried to do."Putinism is heavily influenced by the ideas of Dugin and that old Slavophlie/Pan-Slav Russian nationalist tradition at this point," Stroop said, pointing to the soft-power Russkiy Mir Foundation established by Putin in 2007. It was started, in cooperation with the Russian Orthodox Church, to promote the idea of a "Russian World" of compatriots. As of today, the foundation&#xa0;has a presence <a href="http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:2215/eth-2215-01.pdf">in 29 countries.</a> <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-wwe-vince-mcmahon-2016-11">Donald Trump's history with WWE explains a lot about his persona</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="Fkc2QzMTE6Y-AsNDkseGQbTp57hESZU9" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

'A model for civilization': Putin's Russia has emerged as 'a beacon for nationalists' and the American alt-right

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Dan Kitwood/Getty ImagesAn Eritrean demonstrator waves his national flag whist taking part in a demonstration on Whitehall on April 30, 2012 in London, England.</div></div></div>Europe's migrant crisis is getting worse - in July, <a href="http://frontex.europa.eu/news/number-of-migrants-in-one-month-above-100-000-for-first-time-I9MlIo">over 100,000 migrants arrived in Europe's borders</a>, the first time that symbolic level has been breached.There's one story that most people haven't heard - that's the story of Eritrea. the country is one of the largest sources of migrants arriving on Europe's shores, despite a total population smaller than that of London. Adjusted for its population, a larger proportion of Eritreans arrive than Syrians or Afghans.Some of the people from sub-Saharan Africa crossing the Mediterranean are likely to be economic migrants - those who want to live and work in Europe because it provides them with enormous opportunities, but not because their lives would be in danger otherwise (despite the danger of the crossing itself).But Eritreans are fleeing Eritrea.The <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/for-migrants-origins-often-determine-fate-1439769526">Wall Street Journal described</a> the migrant hierarchy present in the Mediterranean, with one consultant saying that "sub-Saharans are put in the hulls. If the boat takes water, they're the first to drown."That hierarchy is true in terms of attention, too. Though the tragedy of Syria's war is perhaps not given as much international attention as it deserves, it gets a colossal amount more attention than Eritrea.The east-African country is one of a handful that gets the worst score possible from <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/freedom-world-2015#.VdNaHixVikp">Freedom House</a>, matching neighbours Sudan and Saudi Arabia.In fact, in terms of press freedom, Reporters Without Borders says there is just one country that's worse than North Korea. <a href="https://index.rsf.org/#!/">You can guess which</a>. In March, the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-31851587">BBC were allowed into the country</a> for the first time in a decade.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Jack KimballEritrean soldiers march during the country's Independence Day in Asmara in this May 24, 2007 photo.</div></div></div>Here's the start of the <a href="http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16054&amp;LangID=E">latest report from the United Nations' human rights committee</a>, reporting on Eritrea in June:The commission finds that systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed by the Government of Eritrea and that there is no accountability for them. The enjoyment of rights and freedoms are severely curtailed in an overall context of a total lack of rule of law. The commission also finds that the violations in the areas of extrajudicial executions, torture (including sexual torture), national service and forced labour may constitute crimes against humanity. The commission emphasizes that its present findings should not be interpreted as a conclusion that international crimes have not been committed in other areas.More Eritrean citizens are accepted as refugees once they've applied than for any country other than Syria. <a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/File:First_instance_decisions_by_outcome_and_recognition_rates,_30_main_citizenships_of_asylum_applicants_granted_decisions_in_the_EU-28,_1st_quarter_2015.png">90% of applications have a positive outcome</a>, in comparison to about half of non-EU applications in general.President Isaias Afwerki has held his office for 22 years, since the country became independent from Ethiopia in 1993.According to Amnesty International, there is religious persecution too: Though the exact breakdown isn't clear, the country has large populations of both Muslims and Christians. Within the Christian churches, those that have not been approved by the government - like Pentecostal and evangelical organisations - are regularly arrested.Though he headed one of the approved sects, the Orthodox patriarch was also <a href="http://www.christiantoday.com/article/global.call.for.release.of.eritrean.orthodox.church.head.under.house.arrest.for.8.years/46747.htm">arrested nearly eight years ago</a>, and is still held under house arrest. Minority groups like the Afar people report that the government has engaged in ethnic cleansing against them.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">REUTERS/Chip EastEritrea's President Isaias Afwerki addresses the 66th United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters, in New York, September 23, 2011.</div></div></div>Eritrean military service is supposed to last 18 months, but one study suggested <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2014/03/national-service-eritrea">the average length was more like six and a half years</a>. The conscripts are enlisted into construction projects in the country and the UN says that working conditions display "a pattern of torture, inhuman, cruel or degrading treatment or punishment."<a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2010/06/15/africas-north-korea/">A 2010 Foreign Policy article</a> titled "Africa's North Korea" notes that the country has more soldiers per head of population than any nation other than Kim Jong Un's hermit kingdom:Why the desperate privation? Because the military has taken over virtually every aspect of Eritrean life. Despite its tiny size, Eritrea has the largest army in sub-Saharan Africa, with as many as 320,000 soldiers. Its number of soldiers per capita puts Eritrea second only to North Korea, a feat made possible by the ruthless enforcement of mandatory national service for all citizens, men and women alike. Over dinner one evening, a resident U.N. staffer whispered to me about a new expansion of the requirement. To graduate from high school, she explained, youth were now required to attend "national camp" during their final year. Although the government claims this amounts to only a week or two of military training, it in fact lasts much of the year. Her agency had learned that the threat of physical and sexual abuse was causing increasing numbers of students to drop out rather than attend. But by failing to complete their service, they put themselves at constant risk of arrest.Unlike North Korea, there's no threat to the international order. Eritrea's economy is about one-fifteenth the size of the tiny European nation of Luxemborg, to give it some perspective. It has no nuclear weapons and has not really played any significant role in global <keyword id="6358883" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Politics">politics</keyword> at all.Though the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eritrean_People%27s_Liberation_Front">Eritrea People's Liberation Front</a> started as a Marxist resistance movement, the state now has less of a grounding ideology, unlike North Korea's homegrown <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juche">Juche</a>.The Eritrean case doesn't grasp the imagination as much as either North Korea or Syria, but it's one of the least-pleasant places in the world to live, and its refugees are without a doubt some of the most genuine in the world. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/meet-donald-trumps-youngest-daughter-tiffany-2015-8">Forget Ivanka - here's the Trump daughter nobody's talking about</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="E1cXN4djreB4iDr6m7ZyR3yB13JhnGpM" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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