A new International Religious Freedom Alliance with 27 member states was announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo said that the alliance would include “like-minded partners who treasure, and fight for, international religious freedom for every human being.” According to the alliance’s official description, it “will advocate for freedom of religion or belief for all, which includes the right of individuals to hold any belief or none, to change religion or belief and to manifest religion or belief, either alone or in community with others, in worship, observance, practice and teaching.” Twenty-seven countries have signed on as members of the alliance—Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, The Gambia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Togo, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Justice Bhuyan Calls for Protection of Dissent and Personal Liberty
Supreme Court Justice Ujjal Bhuyan has expressed concern over the growing trend of treating peaceful dissent and ordinary actions as criminal offences. Speaking at a