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https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/...ty-women-and-girls-a-human-rights-catastrophe
A report issued on Wednesday declared the treatment of Christian minority women and girls in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia a “human rights catastrophe.”
The study, “Hear Her Cries,” published by the charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) on Nov. 24, said that, “at its most extreme,” forced conversions could amount to “genocide.”
The report, released on Red Wednesday, an annual commemoration raising awareness of anti-Christian persecution, highlighted cases in countries including Egypt and Pakistan.
It also focused on Nigeria, which was controversially removed from this year’s U.S. State Department watchlist of countries with the most egregious violations of religious freedom.
The study found numerous cases of forced kidnapping and exploitation in Egypt, that Christians account for 95% of women and girls seized by Islamists in Nigeria, and that 70% of those forcibly converted and married in Pakistan are Christians.
ACN described the report as “the first of its kind to focus on the phenomenon of young women who are seized, because both their sex and religion makes them vulnerable to abduction and assault.”
Michele Clark, a human rights advocate who has studied the plight of Coptic Christian women, told CNA on Nov. 24 that the report was significant because it revealed the scope of the problem.
“I think the report makes a very important contribution, because it expands the focus on these abductions, forced conversions, forced marriages, from just single country reports to a much broader, much more global perspective,” said Clark, a retired adjunct professor of international affairs at George Washington University, in a phone interview.
“We can pick this up and realize, ‘Wow, this is not just happening in one place.’ This is happening in many, many places around the world. It’s happening in the Middle East. It’s happening in Central Asia. It’s happening in Africa. And so shedding a light on the scope of the problems is a very important contribution.”
The report was compiled by ACN’s U.K. branch, which has launched a petition calling for action to stop the sexual enslavement of Christian women.
The text was presented at an online event chaired by the human rights campaigner Caroline Cox. Speakers included Michele Clark and Fiona Bruce, the British Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief.
The report, which includes case studies from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Pakistan, said that “evidence suggests that the coronavirus pandemic has provided the perfect breeding ground for acts of sexual violence.”…
A report issued on Wednesday declared the treatment of Christian minority women and girls in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia a “human rights catastrophe.”
The study, “Hear Her Cries,” published by the charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) on Nov. 24, said that, “at its most extreme,” forced conversions could amount to “genocide.”
The report, released on Red Wednesday, an annual commemoration raising awareness of anti-Christian persecution, highlighted cases in countries including Egypt and Pakistan.
It also focused on Nigeria, which was controversially removed from this year’s U.S. State Department watchlist of countries with the most egregious violations of religious freedom.
The study found numerous cases of forced kidnapping and exploitation in Egypt, that Christians account for 95% of women and girls seized by Islamists in Nigeria, and that 70% of those forcibly converted and married in Pakistan are Christians.
ACN described the report as “the first of its kind to focus on the phenomenon of young women who are seized, because both their sex and religion makes them vulnerable to abduction and assault.”
Michele Clark, a human rights advocate who has studied the plight of Coptic Christian women, told CNA on Nov. 24 that the report was significant because it revealed the scope of the problem.
“I think the report makes a very important contribution, because it expands the focus on these abductions, forced conversions, forced marriages, from just single country reports to a much broader, much more global perspective,” said Clark, a retired adjunct professor of international affairs at George Washington University, in a phone interview.
“We can pick this up and realize, ‘Wow, this is not just happening in one place.’ This is happening in many, many places around the world. It’s happening in the Middle East. It’s happening in Central Asia. It’s happening in Africa. And so shedding a light on the scope of the problems is a very important contribution.”
The report was compiled by ACN’s U.K. branch, which has launched a petition calling for action to stop the sexual enslavement of Christian women.
The text was presented at an online event chaired by the human rights campaigner Caroline Cox. Speakers included Michele Clark and Fiona Bruce, the British Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief.
The report, which includes case studies from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Pakistan, said that “evidence suggests that the coronavirus pandemic has provided the perfect breeding ground for acts of sexual violence.”…
