Tag: Refugees

‘Tremendous pressure’ on Christians in Somalia

June 28, 2017 Somalia Al-Shabaab, Converts, East Africa, Refugees

Sandstorm over Mandera, one of three provinces in NE Kenya (Photo: Open Doors International)

Christians in Somalia face “tremendous pressure, societal resistance and outright fear,” according to Elijah M Brown, Executive Vice President of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. In a blog post, Brown quotes the US Commission on International Religious Freedom as saying: “Although conversion is currently legal in Somalia, it is not . . . Read More

Persecution ‘key driver of displacement’ says UNHCR, voicing concerns about returns

June 20, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Boko Haram, Converts, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Europe, Fulani herdsmen, Islamic extremism, Middle Belt, Migrants, Nigeria, Refugees, South Sudan, Syria, Uganda, UN

More people are currently displaced through conflict and persecution than at any time since the Second World War. According to the Global Trends report, published by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2016. The report noted that the number of refugee returns . . . Read More

European migrant deals ‘could put victims of religious persecution at risk’

June 17, 2017 Afghanistan, Converts, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Europe, Migrants, Pakistan, Refugees, Somalia, Sudan

Iranian migrants line up for prayer alongside other members of the congregation at the Dk Live church in Dunkirk

New deals aimed at reducing the number of migrants reaching Europe’s shores could endanger the lives of people fleeing religious persecution, the European Evangelical Alliance (EEA) has warned. The Partnership Framework on Migration was launched last year as the European Commission’s response to member states’ requests for a strategic approach . . . Read More

UNHCR accused of ‘negligence’ after Pakistani Christian dies in Thai detention centre

June 9, 2017 Asylum seekers, Bangkok, Blasphemy, Human rights, Islamic extremism, Malaysia, Migrants, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Quran, Refugees, Sri Lanka, Thailand, UK, UN

Thailand’s government and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Bangkok have been accused of “negligence” after a Pakistani Christian asylum seeker died in a detention centre last month. Ijaz Masih, 35, was reportedly refused medical treatment on 26 May, after complaining of chest pains, and died of a heart attack . . . Read More

Abducted Christina reunited with her parents after 3 years

June 9, 2017 Iraq Christina Abada, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Trauma

Five-year-old Christina, shortly after she was reunited with her family, including mother Ayda in the back. (Twitter @thestevennabil)

After almost three years in captivity, an Iraqi Christian girl abducted by the Islamic State in August 2014 has finally been reunited with her parents. Christina Abada, who is about to celebrate her sixth birthday, was welcomed home at around 10am this morning, local time. Locals say she was released . . . Read More

Half of Syria and Iraq’s Christians have left since 2011, says report

June 6, 2017 Europe, Germany, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic State, Jordan, Lebanon, Migrants, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Refugees, Sweden, Syria, Turkey

Three years to the day since the Islamic State group took control of the Iraqi city of Mosul, a new report estimates that – of their Christian populations – 50% have left Iraq since 2006, while 80% have emigrated from Syria since the start of its civil war in 2011. The arrival of IS was only . . . Read More

Afghan Christian woman stabbed to death in Germany

May 11, 2017 Afghanistan, Asylum seekers, Converts, Germany, Refugees

Police are investigating a possible religious motivation behind the murder of an Afghan Christian woman in the Bavarian town of Prien, southern Germany. The 38 year-old mother, known only as FS, was with two of her children when she was stabbed outside a supermarket on 29 April. She later died of her . . . Read More

Relatives of Coptic ‘martyrs’ join summit on persecuted Christians in US capital

May 11, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Chad, Converts, Copts, Donald Trump, Egypt, India, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Libya, Mexico, Mike Pence, Pakistan, Refugees, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, USA

A “World Summit in Defence of Persecuted Christians” has started in Washington DC, and is expected to be addressed by the US Vice-President Mike Pence today (Thursday, 11 May). It has been organised by American evangelist Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. 600 participants have come from 136 countries: including Egypt, . . . Read More

500 children taken by Boko Haram from one northern Nigeria city

April 28, 2017 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Chibok girls, Damasak, Kidnapping, Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria, Refugees, Women

As thousands of refugees return home to northern Nigeria, they are discovering with dismay the scale of devastation left by Boko Haram. In Damasak (Borno State), a city once occupied by the Islamist extremists, hundreds of children are missing. Most of them were seized by Boko Haram in autumn 2014. . . . Read More

Churches feeding hundreds of Dunkirk camp homeless after fire

April 13, 2017 Calais, Converts, Dunkirk, France, Grande-Synthe, La Linière, Migrants, Refugees

Churches are helping to feed hundreds of migrants displaced by the razing of a migrant camp in northern France on Monday night (10 April). The local mayor’s office asked pastors Robert Desprès and Lydie Granger, leaders of churches in Dunkirk and St-Omer, to fund and distribute emergency meals for around . . . Read More

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