militant Fulani insurgents remain active. Despite the scale of Boko Haram’s activities having declined in comparison with the previous review period, these groups regularly carried out massacres and other violent atrocities, particularly targeting Christians. 14 Abductions of Church personnel are also common. 15 Acts of terrorism are often timed to coincide with Christian holidays. 16 In Eritrea, the state is responsible for suppressing Christianity and other faiths. The country’s authoritarian regime is the worst governmental violator of religious freedom in the continent, routinely cracking down on church activities and imprisoning members of unauthorized religious groups without trial in inhumane conditions. 17 Middle East
Although much of the Islamist threat has subsided, countries in the Middle East are still reeling from years of war and terror, and Christian populations in some areas face a growing existential threat. In Syria, the Christian community was disproportionately affected by the civil war. Numbering more than 1.5 million before the war began in 2011, Christians have been reduced to as few as 250,000. 18 While the Assad regime, which professes religious tolerance, has regained control of most of the territory formerly controlled by militants, Christians continue to emigrate. In April 2024, Syria’s apostolic nuncio Cardinal Mario Zenari stated that 500 Christians were leaving Syria every day. 19 In Iraq, the Christian population declined sharply during the brutal occupation of Daesh, and currently consists of less than 200,000 people out of a population of more than 41 million — roughly 0.46 percent. This dwindling community faces significant societal pressure and discrimination, with conversion from Islam still prohibited by law. 20 Christian converts in Iran are among the most targeted groups in the country. They are perceived as colluding with the West and are accused of undermining Iran’s Islamic regime. Many Christian converts increasingly live underground, and evangelization remains illegal. Iranian house churches have spread because of church closures, a lack of state licenses to build new churches, and access to official churches restricted to Armenian and Assyrian Christians. Christian women and girls have suffered increased state oppression, following unrest prompted by the case of Muslim woman Mahsa Amini, who died in custody after being arrested for “violating rules” requiring women to wear headscarves. 21 While Egypt has seen some improvement for the Christian community, they still experience serious problems: in particular, the abduction, forced conversion, and marriage of Coptic Christian women and girls. There is evidence both of systematic kidnapping by gangs and of police officers having conspired to report them as missing rather than abducted. Similarly, women found to have converted to Christianity in Saudi Arabia face confinement and abuse within their families, and can even face honor killings. Asia In many countries across Asia, Christians are a minority, making them de facto second-class citizens, vulnerable to discrimination and social exclusion. In countries such as India and Pakistan, this vulnerability can result in attacks on individuals and churches, such as the February 2024 torching of Grace Community Prayer Hall in Ramanagara, in India’s Karnataka State. Regarding Pakistan, UN experts expressed concerns about a rise in abductions, forced marriages, and conversion of underage girls and young women from Christianity, Hinduism, and Sikhism during the period under review. Religio-nationalism has played a significant role in driving problems with Hindutva nationalist groups in India and hard-line Islamist groups like TLP (Tehreek-e- Labbaik Pakistan) seeing minorities as a threat to the demographics of the majority faith. In India, Hindutva rhetoric often stresses that the growth of minorities has eroded the Hindu population. In these settings, militant identity politics are the key driver of attacks on Christians and other religious minorities.
10 Persecuted and Forgotten?
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