WINDHOEK - The Global Citizens human rights groups, religious leaders, youth and women organisations joined their voices and called for religious freedom at a meeting in Windhoek this week.
International civil society organisations are calling for governments to intervene and close down religious institutions abusing individuals' rights to practice their religions of choice freely.
The Global Citizens' Human Rights Coalition was established to expose the practice of coercive conversion in the country and to call for the shutdown of the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) after a 27-year old woman, Ji In Gu, was murdered for refusing to abandon her faith.
"In 2018 alone, according to our estimates, the number of coercive conversion victims reached 147, with many others unaccounted for," Hapera said.
Perpetrators of these forced conversions approach the families of individuals belonging to churches not associated with the organization and convince them to participate in the process, intended to impose the CCK's doctrine on the person.
Hapera added, "The CCK is not a religious organization, but rather was formed with a political motive, violating South Korea's laws which call for separation of the state and government. Its leaders use government agencies to bully churches not affiliated with it, buy, and sell positions of authority in the organisation as well as pastorships.
"Although Namibia has freedom of religion, we cannot confidently say that there is no need to create awareness, as there could be forceful conversion happening in discreet, therefore there is a need to create awareness in Namibia," he added.
Representatives from the National Youth Development organisation, religious leaders from the Islam Faith, the Association for Charismatic and Pentecostal Churches of Namibia and the Bahai Faith, as well as religious youth from across the city attended the rally in Namibia.