The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected our everyday lives. Many have lost jobs, businesses, and even loved ones from the virus. Leaders, citizens, and governments from around the world are looking for solutions both short and long term to combat this invisible enemy. However some governments are using Covid-19 as a curtain to hide their attacks on minority religious groups. Among these unprecedented times of hardship for all people around the globe, this injustice must be heard and stopped.

China's tight strangle on Tibet and its people is not new to the Covid-19 pandemic. China has brutally treated the Tibetan people for years. Destroying buildings used for religious ceremonies, detaining the elderly for cultural practices and forcing the children into re-education in an attempt to eradicate the Tibetan way of life and practice of Tibetan Buddhism. However the Chinese government is using Covid-19 to intensify its effort for complete State compliance and control over the Tibetan people, culture, and religion. While claiming to protect religious rights.

Pakistan and its minorities of Hindue, Ahmadiyya, and Christians among others have been unjustly treated and forgotten. The Pakistan government issued a one time payment to assist its people during the Covid-19 pandemic. Although the requirements to apply and receive the payment was extremely difficult for the minority groups who are already subjected to discrimination and effectively enslaved by brick kiln factories.

Another victim is a religious minority in South Korea known as Shincheonji which has been used as a scapegoat for the COVID-19 pandemic and has been a target of persecution and slander as fundamentalist Korean Protestant churches call it a South Korean “cult” (e.g. Shincheonji testimony is an example of a slander.

It is very disheartening to witness governments and authorities use such a time to cause more harm and persecution to innocent minority groups. Meanwhile claiming to protect such religious freedoms. These injustices must be heard and they must be stopped.