PERSECUTED AND FORGOTTEN?
Main Findings
“The person who succeeds in killing us knows they would be hailed as a hero.” 1
Speaking to a delegation from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) during a clandestine meeting in Pakistan, Christian woman Mariam Lal recalled the terrifying events that unfolded while working as a nurse at a hospital in Pakistan. The incident followed Mariam’s appointment as the hospital’s chief nurse; fellow staff were reportedly furious that a Christian had been given the post. A mob descended and accused Mariam, 54, and fellow nurse Newosh Arooj, 21, of committing blasphemy. The incident involved a sticker containing a Qur’anic verse, which had been damaged while being removed from a hospital locker. The mob rejected claims that psychiatric patients were responsible for tearing the sticker and blamed the two nurses for desecrating the sacred text. The nurses were at risk of being stabbed to death but, with the help of friends, escaped. Their voices cracking with emotion as they described their ordeal, Mariam and Newosh told ACN that they had been in hiding ever since, frequently changing location to avoid detection. The two nurses’ story is just one of countless incidents of persecution against Christians told to ACN staff during fact-finding visits to countries where so often people’s only crime is to follow Christ. Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians Oppressed for their Faith 2022-24 provides case studies and country, regional, and global analysis on the extent to which Christians are targeted around the world. Even before the period under review in this report, evidence was already showing that persecution and oppression were getting worse. Pew Research Center data for 2021 showed that Christians suffered religiously-motivated harassment ranging from verbal abuse to killings in more countries than ever before – 160 in total, a rise of 50 countries since 2012. Not only were Christians experiencing fundamental human-rights violations in more countries than any other faith group, but the gap between them and the next worst-affected religious group had significantly widened. 2 In his January 2023 speech to the Vatican diplomatic corps, Pope Francis said that around the globe, one in seven Christians experiences persecution, 3 quoting recently published figures. 4 This edition of Persecuted and Forgotten? assesses the situation in 18 countries where religious freedom violations against Christians are of particular concern. The period under review ran from August 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024, and the analysis set out to establish whether the religious freedom landscape affecting Christians had worsened since 2020-22. Research showed that in a majority of countries, violence and/or oppression had indeed increased. In many, if not most, cases, this deterioration did not affect the entire country, only specific regions. Persecuted and Forgotten? 2022-24 found that in more than 60 percent of countries surveyed, human rights violations against Christians had increased since the last report, which covered 2020-22. The report uncovered factors which explain why persecution and oppression have worsened not only in individual countries but across continents:
The epicenter of militant Islamist violence has shifted from the Middle East to Africa
• The strategic focal point of trans-national Islamist militant aggression against Christians and other major targets has now shifted decisively away from the Middle East to Africa. While jihadi militantism persisted in pockets of the Middle East, such as Idlib, Syria, state authorities in the region made significant strides in clamping down on violent Islamist groups. By contrast, in parts of Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Mozambique, and elsewhere, Christians were terrorized by extremist violence. • Militant Islam was a key factor in explaining why there was a prevalence of increased persecution affecting all six countries reviewed in Africa, with evidence suggesting the growing reach of trans-national jihadi groups. 5 • “Opportunistic caliphates,” identified as an emerging concern in ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World Report 2023, became a major concern by summer 2024.
6 Persecuted and Forgotten?
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