CHRISTIAN communities are at threat of extinction in parts of the world, with those in sub-Saharan Africa particularly at risk, owing to increasingly authoritarian regimes and violence, the latest global audit of persecution suggests.
The World Watch List 2024, compiled by the charity Open Doors, rates the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian. Although the countries listed have not changed significantly since last year’s report (News, 3 February 2023), and there are no new entrants to the list, the level of violence experienced by Christians has grown exponentially over the past year, Open Doors says.
There has been a surge in violence globally, with a sevenfold increase in reported attacks on churches, Christian schools, and hospitals — up from 2110 last year to 14,766 recorded this year. Attacks on homes belonging to Christians have also risen by 371 per cent. One in seven Christians worldwide now faces a high level of persecution and discrimination.
The World Watch List has been compiled annually for the past 30 years. Final ranking on the list is created from an amalgamation of six different scores: pressure levels in private life, family life, community life, and national life, and of church communities, as well as violence levels. This year’s list covers the period from 1 October 2022 to 30 September 2023.
The chief executive of Open Doors, Henrietta Blyth, said that Christian minorities in East and West Africa faced an existential threat from jihadists and autocratic regimes.
Jihadist attacks on Christians are occurring across sub-Saharan Africa, in Somalia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Mali, and elsewhere, the report says.
In Somalia, ranked second, suicide attacks by the Al Shabaab Islamist group have increased in the past year. Christians also face increased persecution from the government, the report says. In Sudan, as the civil war deepens, increasing numbers of Christians have been forced to flee.
In Nigeria, Islamist extremism is threatening fragile government institutions, causing people to flee their homes as the government fails to prevent attacks. Nigeria is now number six on the list. Attacks by militants on Christian communities have worsened in the middle belt of the country, where extremists exploit existing tensions between Fulani herdsmen and Christian farming communities. The murder of Christians in Nigeria accounts for 82 per cent of all Christians killed for their faith worldwide: 4118 were recorded, although that is likely to be an underestimate, Open Doors suggests.
Ms Blyth said: “Governments in the region need to take meaningful action. . . Without this, once thriving Christian communities will disappear.”
North Korea is still regarded as the most dangerous country in the world for Christians: t has been ranked first for 22 of the past 23 years.
On 9 October, two days after the Hamas attacks in Israel, Chinese authorities repatriated 600 North Koreans — mostly women — as part of an agreement with Pyongyang. Many are believed to be Christians who had fled the country, and now face years of detention in North Korean prison camps.
Christians in India have also experienced a surge in religious violence, the report says, although the country remains just outside the top ten, listed 11th. The greatest increase in attacks occurred in the state of Manipur, leading to the destruction of homes and churches (News, 15 September 2023). Video footage shared on social media showed two Christian women paraded naked and gang-raped (News, 28 July 2023). One hundred and sixty Christians died in the violence in Manipur, and 62,000 Christians were displaced from their homes.
In the rest of India, 12 states have introduced anti-conversion laws to suppress religious minorities, including Christians and Muslims, under the Hindu nationalist government.
In Pakistan, ranked seventh, persecution of Christians is said to be constant: 21 churches were burned or damaged in August last year, and hundreds of Christians had to flee, Open Doors reports.
Some countries have risen sharply up the list, owing to increasing repression by governments. Nicaragua has risen 20 places to 30th, as President Ortega continues to arrest and imprison priests and other Christians whom he accuses of supporting mass protests against him in 2018 (News, 8 June 2018).
According to the UK Government, nearly three-quarters of the world’s population now live under an autocratic regime.
Open Doors praises UK government efforts to become a global leader in standing up for the freedom of religion and belief, but says that the position of Prime Minister’s special envoy — currently held by Fiona Bruce MP — should be turned into a permanent, statutory post for all future governments.