5.4 billion people at risk of losing freedom of religion, says new report

Roughly 5.4 billion people around the world could face persecution and discrimination for their beliefs, according to a new report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN).

The report, “Religious Freedom in the World”, which was presented on 21 October in the UK Houses of Parliament, also draws attention to how anti-Christian incidents are on the rise not just in the Global South but also across Europe and North America.

As a result of the scale of the problem, the charity has called for fresh action by the UK Government and by the United Nations to uphold Article 18 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, which asserts the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

The report highlights grave violations of religious freedom in 62 countries: with 24 classified as “persecution” (the worst category) and 36 as “discrimination” (the second most serious category).

Chairing the meeting for the launch, Brendan O'Hara MP said: “We cannot allow the issue of freedom of religion or belief to be ghettoised, or hived off, or [to become] something which is deemed too complicated or uniquely challenging.

“Freedom of religion or belief is a fundamental, inalienable human right, and it has to be treated and seen as such.”

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The report focuses on how religious persecution increasingly fuels forced migration and displacement.

“In Nigeria, attacks by radicalised Fulani militants have ravaged churches, villages and clergy, triggering mass displacement,” O’Hara said.

“Religious persecution is a major and often overlooked driver of today’s global displacement crisis.”

Speaking at the event, Bishop John Bakeni of the Diocese of Maiduguri, in north-eastern Nigeria, gave a powerful testimony of his personal experience of religious violence in Nigeria:

“Since 2009, the Boko Haram Islamist militant group in allegiance with Daesh extremists in Iraq and Syria – now [called] ISWAP – has inflicted mass terror on civilians, killing over 40,000 Nigerians, kidnapping thousands and displacing over 2 million people from their ancestral homes," the bishop said.

“Whilst the conflict is not solely about religion, it is equally simplistic not to see the religious dimension as a significantly exacerbating factor, especially as churches, priests and other potent symbols of Christianity are attacked, seemingly with impunity.”

John Pontifex, head of press and public affairs at ACN, spoke of his own experience: “I was in the North Central middle belt of Nigeria only in the spring and I was privileged enough to see and meet so many individuals and families and communities and Church leaders who are wrestling, grappling with this terrible situation of persecution.

“I saw the impact of the threat [that] religious extremism has had on individuals and families, who have been driven from their homes, from their farmlands and from their home communities.”

The report also states that there’s been a significant rise in attacks against Christian sites and believers in the West, with France having recorded approximately 1,000 anti-Christian incidents in 2023, while Greece reported over 600 cases of church vandalism.

The report argues that authoritarianism is the greatest threat to religious freedom, with regimes systematically enforcing “legal and bureaucratic mechanisms to suppress religious life”.

Speaking to the Catholic Herald, Sir Edward Leigh MP, the so-called Father of the House in the Commons, as its most senior member, praised ACN’s work and called for parliamentary action.

“I support Aid to the Church in Need and everything they do and their marvellous work on behalf of persecuted Christians worldwide – this is something that we should promote in Parliament to ensure that government fully enforces Article 18 of the Declaration of Human Rights," Leigh said.

“[This] will be a powerful weapon to protect persecuted minorities around the world.”

Photo: Flames engulf the roof of Notre-Dame Cathedral in central Paris, France, 15 April 2019 (Photo by FRANCOIS GUILLOT/AFP via Getty Images)

The full ACN report 'Religious Freedom in the World' is available here.

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