ECHR orders Hungary to feed migrants in transit zone
THE European Court of Human Rights this week ordered the Hungarian government to feed migrants in the country’s southern-border transit zone. After action from the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, the ECHR ruled for the eighth time since August 2018 that Hungary must feed the illegal immigrants, the group said. Márta Pardavi, its co-chair, said, “It is appalling that the Hungarian government continues to deny food to people it detains. We have now secured the eighth order in a row from the European Court of Human Rights that makes it clear that denying food in the transit zones is simply inhuman treatment. This shows how the Hungarian government fails to fully respect the Strasbourg human-rights court’s orders while it brands itself a protector of Christian values.”
US Bishops ‘aggrieved’ at Lambeth 2020 exclusion
THE Episcopal Church in the United States’ House of Bishops has criticised the decision to not invite same-sex spouses to the 2020 Lambeth Conference (News, 22 February). A statement released after a meeting last week said that the Bishops were “aggrieved and distressed” at the decision, and “concerned by the use of exclusion as a means of building communion”. It also said, however, that the majority of US bishops still planned to attend, to continue building relationships across the Anglican Communion, “further the conversation around the various cultural expressions of marriage”, and “reflect our understandings of marriage, as well as our commitment to the dignity of all human beings, including the human rights of LGBTQ+ persons”.
Nine reported dead after Kaduna militia attacks
ATTACKS by Fulani militias in Kaduna State, Nigeria, killed nine last weekend, Christian Solidarity Worldwide has reported; 30 houses were destroyed in the attacks; and as many as 120 people had died in militia attacks in the region since 9 February. The chief executive, Mervyn Thomas, said on Monday: “It is clear that the culture of impunity that surrounds these attacks has emboldened perpetrators. We reiterate our call on state and the federal governments to address every source of violence in a swift, decisive and unbiased manner, ensuring that vulnerable communities are provided the protection they so desperately need.”
New York court dismisses Sauls lawsuit
THE Supreme Court of New York State last week dismissed a lawsuit filed against the Episcopal Church in the United States by the Rt Revd Stacy Sauls. He was one of three senior church officials to be dismissed in 2016 after an investigation into misconduct (News, 17 February 2017). He filed a lawsuit against the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (which is the Episcopal Church’s legal entity) and an “unspecified number” of unnamed defendants, claiming that the Church’s decision to replace him as chief operating officer breached his contract, damaged his reputation, and made it difficult for him to find a post elsewhere in the Church. Judge Paul A. Goetz ruled that Bishop Sauls’s contract was not breached, because he was an “at will employee”, and that “nothing in the [DFMS] handbook limits the defendants’ right to terminate plaintiff’s employment for any reason”.
President of Mauritius honours Bishop Ernest
THE Bishop of Mauritius, the Rt Revd Ian Ernest, who was Archbishop of the Indian Ocean from 2006 to 2017, was appointed a Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (GCSK) by President Barlen Vyapoory of Mauritius, on the country’s national day this month. The Bishop is now entitled to use the prefix “The Honourable”. The President expressed delight in recognising his “distinguished contribution in the religious and social fields”.