AFGHANISTAN TOPS NEW WORLD WATCH LIST

Afghanistan is now the most dangerous place in the world to be a Christian, according to figures released in the 2022 World Watch List (WWL).

Afghanistan replaces North Korea at the top of the list after 20 years, despite persecution also rising there in the past year.

The WWL, which records levels of persecution and discrimination across the globe, found that over 360 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution and discrimination for their faith –a rise of 20 million from last year.

The number represents one in seven Christians worldwide. This year records the highest levels of persecution since the first List was published 29 years ago, and in recent years has plotted a steady increase.

The report paints a shocking picture of life for Afghanistan’s small, deeply hidden, Christian population, suggesting that Christian men are facing almost certain death if their faith is discovered; women and girls may escape death but may be married to young Taliban fighters who want the ‘spoils of war’; the incoming Taliban government gained access to recordings and reports that helped to identify Christians inside the country. When located, they were often detained, to identify further networks of Christians, before finally being killed; Taliban fighters are actively tracking down Christians from existing intelligence, even going door-to-door to find them.

Much of the Christian population has fled to rural regions or refugee camps in neighbouring nations – all of which also feature in the WWL as countries hostile to Christians.

The report also warns that the fall of Kabul has fuelled a new mood of invulnerability among other jihadist groups worldwide, increasing anti- Christian violence in countries such as Nigeria, Mali, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Niger and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“The rise of Afghanistan to the top of the World Watch List is deeply troubling,” says Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland. “Apart from the incalculable suffering it represents, it sends out a very clear message to Islamic extremists everywhere: ‘You can continue your brutal fight for influence, unchecked.’ Factions like Islamic State and Alliance of Democratic Forces (ADF) now see their goal of an Islamic caliphate - once thwarted in Iraq and Syria – as, once again, achievable. The cost in human lives and misery this new-found sense of invincibility is causing, and will continue to cause, is hard to overstate.”

Along with Afghanistan, there are several countries with noteworthy rises in recorded persecution. These include Indonesia, where Christians faced two attacks in Central Sulawesi, as well as a bomb attack against the cathedral in Makassar; Myanmar, where the army has attacked Christian villages and churches, driving more than 200,000 into IDP camps; and Bhutan, where converts especially face community pressure and violence – in the case of women, sexual violence.

Recorded killings of Christians for their faith rose from 4,761 registered cases in the 2021 WWL to 5,898. Sub-Saharan Africa, and Nigeria especially, accounts for the bulk of these.

The total number of churches attacked rose from 4,488 registered cases in 2021 to 5,110 in 2022, and detentions and arrests rose 44 per cent 2021 to 6,175, with 1,315 of these in India.

“This year’s World Watch List makes for sobering reading,” says Dr David Landrum, Director of Advocacy at Open Doors UK and Ireland. “With emboldened Islamists, resurgent nationalism, and China developing more sophisticated forms of digital persecution, we are entering a new era of diminishing human rights. With religious freedom providing a foundation for so many other freedoms, we desperately need to see a renewal of commitment to shoring up human rights in 2022. When even paying lip-service to human rights is shrinking, the promotion and protection of religious freedom is more urgent than ever.” (Open Doors UK)

RABBIS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ATTACKED

After an attack on Rabbis for Human Rights and the Palestinians they were accompanying, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary the Rev Prof Dr Ioan Sauca shared prayers of healing for those injured and of solidarity with those working for peace.

The attack took place near Burin village, east of Nablus in the West Bank. Eight persons from Rabbis for Human Rights, who were engaged in planting olive trees, were injured in the incident. Reports in Israeli media indicate that the assailants used clubs, stones, and gas against the victims, as well as setting one car on fire and destroying another one.

“The WCC and its member churches around the world join in praying that the day will come when peace prevails and such attacks become a thing of the past,” said Sauca. “We call on the Government of Israel to end the impunity of settlers who commit acts of violence.”(WCC)

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