By Charles Igwe
A Christian human rights advocacy group is urging the U.S. government to acknowledge the widespread persecution of Christians in Nigeria. The group’s report documents various forms of religiously-motivated violence, including kidnappings, torture, sexual assault, forced marriages, blasphemy laws, and other abuses.
“The outcry of Nigerian Christians is falling on deaf ears. It is time for the United States to answer their call for help,” stated International Christian Concern (ICC), an ecumenical, nonpartisan Christian organization advocating for human rights for Christians and religious minorities globally, in its July report, “A Case for Nigeria’s Country of Particular Concern Status.”
The U.S. secretary of state designates countries as “of particular concern” if they tolerate or engage in severe violations of religious freedom, such as torture, prolonged detention without charges, abduction, and other human rights abuses.
ICC’s report includes firsthand testimony from an ICC staff visit to Nigeria in March 2023, along with open-source research and information gathered by ICC field staff.
“For almost two decades, the right to religious freedom has rapidly deteriorated in Nigeria,” the report states. “Since the rise of Islamic terrorist groups in 2009, Nigeria’s Christian community has faced extremist violence at one of the fastest-growing rates.”
“More than 50,000 Christians have been slaughtered by violent insurgency groups, and the silence from Western nations on this genocide is appalling,” the report continues.
The report highlights several groups behind the violence, noting their strong religious influences. Boko Haram targets “un-Islamic” activity, the Islamic State West Africa (ISIS-West Africa or IS-WA) specifically targets Christian communities, and radical members of the nomadic Fulani also contribute to the violence.
The report documents these groups’ involvement in torture, sexual assault, kidnappings, mass killings, and other forms of violence, calling for immediate action from the international community to address these severe human rights violations.
