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We need to act for the sake of the girls, the women, persecuted for their faith and sexually targeted because of their gender. We need to champion their cause; we need to hear their cries.
vulnerable often because of economic deprivation, personal hardship, harsh family circumstances and social rejection.” 33 “It is very difÀcult being a Christian girl in our country. So often our girls are abducted and the depraved things they suffer are too awful to imagine. It is so frightening. Who is there to help us?” With these words, one of the victims interviewed for this report, who asked to remain anonymous, articulated the urgency of freeing Christian girls from the bondage of religious and sexual enslavement. She wanted justice. The very nature and extent of the suffering described in this report mean that in producing it ACN is not only concerned with raising awareness but also with creating an appetite for change ― and change that happens without delay. The research summarized here is aimed at inÁuencers at all levels, be they people of faith committed to building up their community, be they Church leaders, be they politicians, be they government or others in public service. We need to act for the sake of the girls, the women, persecuted for their faith and sexually targeted because of their gender. We need to champion their cause; we need to hear their cries.
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implications of trade and aid involving countries with a dubious record on key human rights issues. It is likely that only a more fundamental and strategic approach to tackling systemic religious and gender discrimination will deliver the changes that are so sorely needed to enable Christian and other minority faith women and girls to be freed from the threat of sexual and religious persecution. Some faith groups interpret FoRB in ways that “necessarily and inevitably clash” with the human rights of women. Oxford University’s Dr Nazila Ghanea has written: “There is frequent invocation of religious norms as defence in order to oppose gender equality claims… [Grave] violations of the human rights of women and girls are carried out in the name of (religious) tradition. Often the state then endorses violations or neglects to act effectively on them.” 32 An understanding of underlying nuances is also necessary. It would be a fundamental misreading of religiously motivated sexual coercion and violence to suggest that faith is the single, or even necessarily, the prevailing factor involved. Rather, religion is often part of the mix of indicators denoting vulnerability, perceived as giving culprits a passport to impunity. As Professor Mariz Tadros has stated, ideologically motivated sexual abuse involves “predators targeting girls and women who are
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