A law criminalizing religious conversions and the “hurting of religious feelings” went into effect in Nepal this week, a year after the bill was passed. As World Watch Monitor reported last year, Nepal’s Christian minority fears the new law will be abused by those seeking to settle scores — as has happened frequently in neighboring India. After the bill was passed, Nepali MP Lokmani Dhakal asked for the removal of the
sections criminalizing conversions, saying: “It seems very clear to me that this country, when preparing the civil code, has forgotten it is a signatory to international treaties that protect the freedom of religion and human rights. … Please don’t let it be possible for the world to say of Nepal that we are the kind of nation that on the one hand signs international treaties, but when making internal laws, and in implementing them, does something else.” Hindus account for over 80 percent of Nepal’s 26 million people. According to the 2011 census, there are just 364,000 Christians. READ MORE
