Report warns of genocide against Christian population

Persecution of Christian followers has increased so much that a report highlights that violence against this community exceeds "the threshold of genocide" in several countries.

The study published by Aid to the Church In Need (ACN) reveals that human rights violations against the Christian population increased in 75% of the 24 countries surveyed including: China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Burma, parts of Africa and the Middle East.

"There is a media silence on the reality facing Christians today. Mass killings, abduction and forced displacement," states the ACN website.

The report entitled "Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report On Christians Oppressed For Their Faith 2020-22," points out that no one seems to be paying enough attention to the genocide being experienced by believers of Christianity in all parts of the world and questions how many more deaths there would have to be for attention to be paid to this problem.

In Africa alone, more than 7,600 Nigerian Christians were reported to have been killed by militants between January 2021 and June 2022.

In Asia, the violation of human rights is also critical, as state authoritarianism systematically represses the Christian population, forcing many to "desperately" try to escape.

India recorded 710 incidents driven by political extremism and an example of this is the October 2021 demonstration in Chhattisgarh, where members of the ruling party called for Christians to be killed.

In the Middle East, the migration crisis of Christian communities is growing due to constant arrests on blasphemy charges as well as kidnappings and rapes.

In Syria alone the Christian population went from 10% to 2% because of the threats faced by Christian believers and although in Iraq the exodus rate is the slowest, the community has halved from 2014 to spring 2022.

"Five years have passed since the military defeat of ISIS," the report explains, "and the threat of a large-scale resurgence has by no means been extinguished. A resurgent jihadist movement has the potential to deal the final blow to Christianity," the report states.

In the report, Rev. Andrew Adeniyi Abayomi explained that at this time the Church needs people to speak for them and thus try to curb or lessen the attacks.