PERSECUTED AND FORGOTTEN?
Main Findings
A funeral in Bihar State, India.
Standing close to the spot where his ordeal began, not far from the northern Nigerian city of Zaria, Christian man Solomon Ako, 33, told Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) what happened when militants descended on his village in northern Nigeria and kidnapped him. His voice quaking with emotion, Solomon explained how he and other hostages were held for hours at a time up to their necks in cold water. Solomon’s story is one of countless accounts recorded by ACN as the charity assessed the scale of human rights violations against Christians. Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for their Faith 2024-26 provides firsthand testimony, case studies, country, regional, and global analysis investigating the extent to which Christians are targeted around the world. Even before the two-year period covered in this report, there were signs that the oppression of Christians was increasing. The latest data from Pew Research Center indicates that anti-Christian harassment ranging from verbal abuse to killings occurred in 165 countries in 2023, up from 160 in 2021. 1 By this measure, Christians suffered harassment in more countries than any other group, with the gap between Christians and other faiths widening at a time when the harassment of religious groups was already at an all- time high. Speaking at the United Nations in Geneva in March 2026, Archbishop Ettore Balestrero, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer, said “Christians are subjected “They immediately asked us to convert and, when we refused, they started beating us. They fl ogged us with whips. Our legs were put in chains. Shackles [were] placed round our ankles.”
to physical violence, subjugation, false detention, the expropriation of their property, enslavement, forced exile and even murder because of their religious beliefs.” According to research by ACN, around 220 million Christians are directly exposed to persecution, which encompasses the sort of violations described above by the archbishop. This edition of Persecuted and Forgotten? assesses the situation in 18 countries where religious freedom violations against Christians are of particular concern. The review period ran from August 1, 2024 to June 30, 2026 and assessed whether the religious freedom landscape for Christians had worsened since 2022-24. Persecuted and Forgotten? 2024-26 found that in just over half (56 percent) of the countries surveyed, oppression against Christians had worsened since the last report. In many, if not most cases, this deterioration affected specific regions rather than entire countries. The report uncovered factors which explain why persecution and oppression have worsened not only in individual countries but across continents.
Global findings The report’s global findings are as follows:
Oppression of Christians by authoritarian regimes has grown to unprecedented levels in countries with global or regional influence where anti-West sentiment has surged. • In China, repression has intensified as authorities aligned religious doctrine more closely with communist principles causing mass detentions, jailing clergy on legal technicalities, closing churches and controlling online religious content. • In Iran, arrests of Christians doubled within 12 months as crackdowns intensified. • In Nicaragua, the regime increased its crackdown on Christians, arresting and exiling clergy, preventing ordinations, seizing Church institutions and preventing people from entering the country with Bibles.
6 | Persecuted and Forgotten?
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