Published on: 11 January 2024
DOHI Staff
The Biden Administration has once again left Nigeria off of the U.S. State Department’s list of the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. This is in spite of the fact that statistics show that 90% of all Christians who lost their lives for the sake of the Gospel globally in 2023 were killed in Nigeria.
One example of the extreme violence that Christian communities faced last year is highlighted by the ‘Christmas Massacre’ in Plateau State. Terrorists coordinated their attacks, beginning Saturday, December 23, and lasting through to Christmas Day, setting fire to hundreds of homes in over 20 villages. More than 160 women, children and the elderly were killed as they innocently prepared for their church Christmas programs. According to reports, several pastors and their families were amongst the victims and roughly 300 wounded were sent to hospital.
Though the State Department made formal statements condemning the Christmas Massacre, and other instances of deadly violence against Christians in Nigeria, it still failed to follow the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s (USCIRF) recommendation to include Nigeria on their list of Countries of Particular Concern (CPC). Other countries recommended by USCIRF and not included were Afghanistan, India, Syria and Vietnam.
USCIRF leaders stated that “there is no justification as to why the State Department did not designate Nigeria…as a Country of Particular Concern.” USCIRF Chair Abraham Cooper is now calling for a congressional hearing on the issue.
For 2024, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken has designated the following as “Countries of Particular Concern” for engaging in or tolerating particularly severe violations of religious freedom: Burma, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, the DPRK, Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Algeria, Azerbaijan, the Central African Republic, Comoros, and Vietnam have been placed on a “Special Watch List” for engaging in or tolerating severe violations of religious freedom.
Additionly, al-Shabab, Boko Haram, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Houthis, ISIS-Sahel, ISIS-West Africa, al-Qa’ida affiliate Jamaat Nasr al-Islam wal-Muslimin, and the Taliban have been designated as “Entities of Particular Concern.”
