Forum 18
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Forum 18 is a Norwegian human rights organization that promotes religious freedom. The organization's name is based on Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Forum 18 summarizes the article as:
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
The Forum 18 News Service, established by Forum 18 in 2003, is a Christian web and e-mail initiative to report on threats and actions against the religious freedom of all people, whatever their religious affiliation, in an objective, truthful and timely manner. The news service mainly concentrates on the states of the former Soviet Union, including Belarus and Central Asia, and Eastern Europe, but has also published reports on Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Burma, China (including Xinjiang), Laos, Mongolia, North Korea, and Vietnam. Source
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Media Outlet details
| Scope | International |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Country | Norway |
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Recent Articles
Search ArticlesRUSSIA : Prosecutions for cooperation with "undesirable organisations"
Olga Sibiryova, March 2023 Private The case against Sibiryova appears to be the first under Administrative Code Article 20.33 ("Participation in the activities of an undesirable organisation") to be based exclusively on a citation by an "undesirable organisation". Fines under this Article are relatively small, but a further offence could lead to criminal prosecution with up to a 4-year jail term (see below).
KYRGYZSTAN : Trials imminent for detained Reform Adventists?
Birinchi May District Court put all five - Yevgeny Zhuravsky, Igor Kozlov, Sergey Kozlov, Olga Selova and Valeriya Yantsen – in two months' pre-trial detention at a late-night hearing on 17 June. Four of them remain in detention awaiting trial. Selova was freed on court orders on 18 August and had to sign an undertaking not to leave the country (see below). Investigator Adilet Asanbayev adamantly defended the investigation and prosecution of the True and Free Adventists.
UKRAINE : Mobilised conscientious objector "killed or not properly looked after"?
Yevhen Nabraklo's grave, Pokrov, soon after his 13 January 2026 burial Private "Death is related to military service. Death is not related to the defence of the Motherland," the official notification to the family (seen by Forum 18) notes. The website of Pokrov Council lists Nabraklo in the section "They gave their lives for Ukraine". About his death it merely states that "his heart stopped beating".
BELARUS : Criminal cases against exiled religious freedom defenders
Sergiy Melyanets, February 2021 Svaboda.org (RFE/RL) Forum 18 called the number listed on Melyanets' record. The man who answered the phone – who did not identify himself - asked who was calling. When Forum 18 explained and asked why Minsk City Police are looking for Melyanets and what criminal charges he is being investigated under, the man put the phone down. "Why did they put my number there?
UZBEKISTAN : Prison term awaits arrested Shia for online religious posts?
Sunnatillo Akparov Private At the request of police, the government's Religious Affairs Committee in Tashkent produced – within a day - an "expert analysis" of marthiyas (Shia musical lamentations) distributed on the Telegram channel. The "experts" found that the "information distributed by Akparov to the members of the group via Telegram encouraged the activity and teachings of various [unspecified] ideological movements" (see below).
ARMENIA : Trial of Catholicos, six bishops "violates" Church's "right of autonomy"
Catholicos Karekin (in purple headgear) talks to journalists, Echmiadzin, 27 June 2025 Azatutyun.am (RFE/RL) Hearings at the trial are due to be open. Those on trial will be: 74-year-old Catholicos Karekin II; Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisian; Archbishop Haykazun Najarian; Bishop Vahan Hovhannesyan; Bishop Makar Hakobyan; Bishop Moushegh Babayan; and Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan. The court is less than one kilometre from the Armenian Church's headquarters at Echmiadzin (see below).
RUSSIA : Court challenges to denials of alternative service often fail
Military Commissariat with slogan "Defence of the Fatherland is the duty of every citizen of the Russian Federation" North Caucasus Service (RFE/RL) The Military Commissariat stated to the district court in all three cases that the Pentecostal Christians had "failed to substantiate, with sufficient completeness and credibility, the existence of a serious and insurmountable conflict between the obligation to serve in the military and [their] beliefs, which would cause [them] to reject military...
RUSSIA : "Nationwide rise in arbitrary denials of alternative service"
Military Commissariat with slogan "Defence of the Fatherland is the duty of every citizen of the Russian Federation" North Caucasus Service (RFE/RL) Conscription Commissions in Udmurtiya refused alternative civilian service to at least three young men from the same Pentecostal church, despite their long-held religious beliefs precluding military service and despite the fact that fellow church members had applied successfully for ACS in earlier years.
OCCUPIED UKRAINE : "Neither Interior Ministry nor court knows reasons for my deportation"
Lyudmila and Vladimir Rytikov with church members outside Krasnodon Town Court, 17 July 2026 Baptist Council of Churches Without Russian citizenship and without a Russian residence permit, Pastor Rytikov's presence in occupied Luhansk Region would be illegal. If he fails to leave voluntarily, he would be deported from all Russian-controlled territory, both Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine and Russia itself.
BELARUS : Polish priests "increasingly not allowed to continue their work"
Aleksandr Rumak, Minsk, 8 January 2026 Viktar Vedzen/Catholic.by Some of the priests have already returned to Poland. Others remain in Belarus as their bishops hope to persuade Plenipotentiary Rumak to change his mind. (A list of the 10 priests and 1 friar whose names are publicly known is at the foot of this article.) At least one of the priests - Franciscan priest Fr Lech Bachanek - has decided to apply for Belarusian citizenship.