Blinken under pressure to redesignate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern”


nigeria worthy ministries

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – As thousands of Christians in Nigeria are murdered by Islamic jihadists every year, a coalition of more than 30 international rights groups and faith-based organizations wrote to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on September 19, asking him to re-designate Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” in regard to religious freedom violations, Church Leaders (CL) reports. The US annually reviews the status of religious freedom in every country in the world and designates each country that has tolerated “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC).

The September 19 letter was sent in the hope the Secretary of State will put Nigeria on the 2022 List of Countries of Particular Concern that is expected to be published by the end of this year, CL reports. To the shocked outrage of international rights groups, Blinken removed Nigeria from the US List in November last year, shortly before his official visit to the country. The letter sent to him on September 19 described his removal of Nigeria from the List as “unexplainable” and “appalling.”

The letter was signed by the ADF International, Anglican Persecuted Church, Religious Freedom Project Christian Freedom, International Christian Solidarity, and International Christian Concern organizations, among many other groups, and by a number of prominent political figures, including members of the UK parliament.

“Well-known terrorist groups like Boko Haram and ISWAP target Christians and Muslims who reject extremism throughout Northeastern Nigeria. Militia groups operate on a wide scale throughout the North and Middle Belt, although increasingly in the Federal Capital Territory and the Southeast as well,” the letter explains. “While the motives of the militia groups are diverse, a significant portion of them are driven by extremist ethnoreligious factors, disproportionately targeting Christians, as attested to both by widespread eyewitness testimony and data.”

The letter cited data from the Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa (ORFA), which reported that between October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021, 4,303 Christians were murdered in jihadist-related attacks. “When controlling for the differences in the Christian and Muslim populations in the different geopolitical zones and states where these killings occurred, ORFA found that Christians were 7.8 times more likely to be killed in jihadist-related attacks than Muslims,” the letter reads.

We're being CENSORED ... HELP get the WORD OUT! SHARE!!!

Latest Worthy News

Britain and Germany Sign Defense Treaty Amid Uncertainty Over Trump
Christians Targeted in Indonesia’s West Java as Mobs Attack Homes and Churches
Mass Baptism in Bournemouth Seen as Sign of Revival in Britain
Tensions Flare in Spain as Anti-Migrant Clashes Rock Torre Pacheco
U.S. Officials Confirm Fordow Nuclear Facility ‘Obliterated,’ While Questions Remain Over Isfahan and Natanz
Israel Defends Syrian Druze Amid Sweida Bloodbath; Erdogan Condemns Strikes as ‘Terrorism’
Netanyahu Government Teeters as Shas Ministers Resign over Ultra-Orthodox Draft Dispute, Coalition Reduced to 60 Seats
Tensions Rise as U.S. Ambassador Huckabee Blasts Israeli Interior Ministry Over Christian Visa Denials
Trump Presses Netanyahu After Israeli Strike on Catholic Church in Gaza Kills Three
Fair Use Notice:This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Worthy Christian News