The European Union and United States have a responsibility to raise their voices and actively confront the Russian Federation with respect to minority rights and freedom of expression in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine.

The fear of ‘appearing sectarian’ or ‘showing favouritism’ is the poorest, the weakest and the most appalling excuse for not speaking up for a persecuted group in a distant land that happen to share your beliefs.

Since late 2012 the Central African Republic (CAR) has been plagued by sectarian violence between Muslim and Christian extremist groups. This has led to ongoing ethnic cleansing, the initial stages of genocide, and created a large-scale humanitarian crisis.

The ongoing fighting has largely escaped attention from western media up until recently, but the scale of devastation is staggering and cannot continue to be ignored.