Religious persecution has been growing in Africa as well as the Middle East, thus compelling millions of Christians to flee from the comfort of their homes to over capacitated refugee camps and risking the opening up of more smuggling routes to Europe. According to a new report by Open Doors, the targeting of Christians has worsened over the past year, with North Korea continuing to top the list for overall religious persecution in 2015 and Nigeria ranking first for the number of Christians who have been killed for practicing their faith.

“The headlines focus on the Middle East, but there were more recorded killings of Christians due to their faith in northern Nigeria in 2015 than in the rest of the world put together; 4,028 out of a worldwide total of 7,100 reported deaths,” the report said.

Of the 50 countries mentioned by Open Doors, the six where most number of Christians were killed for reasons directly related to religion belong to sub-Saharan Africa. While Nigeria ranked first, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya and Cameroon followed in at second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth places.

“In numerical terms at least, though not in degree, the persecution of Christians in this region dwarfs what is happening in the Middle East,” the report said.

Open Doors is a Christian charity that scrutinizes religiously motivated discrimination and violence and publishes a yearly table of the worst countries in the world for Christians to survive in.

Over two million people, most of them Christians, have been compelled to leave their homes in northern Nigeria, where the jihadist group Boko Haram continues to wage war against religious minorities. According to Open Doors, Hausa-Fulani tribesmen too have contributed to such instances of religious persecution by frequently attacking Christian farmers and killing at least 1,500 of them.

“Both Boko Haram and Hausa-Fulani are carrying out religious cleansing, aiming to eradicate Christianity,” the charity said.

Eritrea, which ranks third on the list, was dubbed as North Korea of Africa, with President Isaias Afewerki’s totalitarian paranoia chasing thousands of citizens into the claws of those who smuggle people and indulge in slave trade.

“Eritrean Christians, even though they know there is a very high probability of falling into the hands of traffickers and ruthless radical groups like Daesh [Islamic State], are still desperate to escape from Eritrea,” the report quoted one of its researchers as saying.

According to Open Doors, women and girls are on the frontline of all instances of religious persecution.

“In many places in the world [they] face a double vulnerability: the disadvantage and repression prompted by their gender is overlaid by the hostility and persecution that comes from their minority Christian faith,” read the report.

Abduction, forced marriage, rape, domestic violence, acid attacks and honor killings are among the many abuses faced by women and girls in these regions.

Not to forget, the Middle East continues to be a major hub for religious persecution against Christians. David Alton, a campaigner for such issues, rightly described recent events in Iraq and Syria as “a genocide that dare not utter its name.”

“Deep-rooted religious hatred, a hatred of difference, is driving on a systematic campaign of deportation and exodus, degrading treatment, including sexual violence, enslavement, barbaric executions, and attempts to systematically destroy all history and culture that is not their own,” he said.

A global delegation of 15 Catholic bishops, who visited Christian refugees from Iraq in Jordan last month, raised questions about their harsh living conditions. Only a handful of Christians have been able to seek refuge in two big camps that are being run by the United Nations and other international agencies, partly because of their fear of intimidation and violence from hardline Muslim refugees who could use force to find a place there. Thus, most Christians have opted to live in disused steel containers, abandoned churches or overcrowded apartments with distant relatives.

One volunteer for Open Doors in northern Iraq told the media that most Christian refugees refuse to seek help from United Nations-run camps.

“Many feel they were betrayed by their Muslim neighbors, and families are very concerned about the safety of their women and girls. They prefer smaller, church-run camps, but these are less well resourced. Christian refugees are being bypassed by the big UN organizations,” he said.

While discussing the issue, Open Doors CEO Lisa Pearce highlighted the fact that most of the 50 countries listed by her charity receive a substantial amount of foreign aid from the United Kingdom. Citing the report titled “World Watch List” at an event in parliament that was attended by personalities from across the political spectrum, Open Doors asked the British government to stop offering foreign aid to countries where religious persecution is rampant, without making sure that the funds actually reach those in need. Great Britain currently offers £12 billion in foreign aid abroad but volunteers working on ground claim that a fraction of this funding reaches those who are in dire need of it.

For example, after the United Kingdom handed over more than £1 billion in foreign aid to Syria last year for helping those struggling to survive in refugee camps in an attempt to slow the flow of migrants into Europe, Prime Minister David Cameron announced an additional £100 million in September 2015.

“We must make sure that people in refugee camps are properly fed and looked after but also to stop people wanting to make or thinking of making this very, very difficult and very dangerous journey to Europe,” he had said at the time.

He had also promised to welcome 20,000 Syrian refugees from various camps being run by the United Nations. However, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby met with the British prime minister soon after to warn him that his policy would not really benefit Christians, as hardline Muslim refugees systematically keep them away from United Nations-run camps.

In a speech at the House of Lords, Archbishop Welby said, “Within the camps there is significant intimidation and radicalization, and many particularly of the Christian population who have been forced to flee are unable to be in the camps.”

Similarly, Open Doors’ most recent report shows how Pakistan, Ethiopia and Bangladesh receive the maximum amount of bilateral aid from the United Kingdom. Yet, Pakistan ranks sixth on the list, with Ethiopia and Bangladesh following in at the 18th and 35th positions.

While concluding her speech, Pearce urged the British government to take some action.

“We have influence. We must not sit on the sidelines while Christianity is quietly eroded around the world,” she said. “Do guarantee that our aid money is reaching the most vulnerable groups. … In northern Nigeria, aid is distributed by regional governmental organizations, which are majority Muslim and it would be naïve to imagine Christians get a fair proportion of that. They don’t.”

India too was mentioned by Open Doors for growing religious persecution against Christians, Muslims and other minority faith groups, since Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister to head the government that is ruled by the nationalist Bhartiya Janta Party with its political ideologies rooted in Hindutva. Two years ago, India was ranked 31 on Open Doors’ World Watch List but in its latest report, the country featured at the 17th spot.

“Pastors have been beaten and killed, and members of their congregations forced to convert to Hinduism in an increasing number of attacks across the country. On average a church is burned down or a pastor beaten three times a week,” said Open Doors.

Photo Credits: Open Doors USA