Indian police play down mob attack on Christian meeting
Christian families have fled their homes in eastern India after telling police a Hindu nationalist mob had attacked a church fellowship meal, only to be met . . . Read More
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REPORT: ‘Islamic war of expansion’ underpins ‘religious cleansing’ in southern Kaduna, Nigeria
A new report highlights Nigeria’s failed attempts, over decades, to deal with the violence perpetrated by Fulani Muslim herdsmen in one of the country’s Middle Belt states. It concludes that continued failings will force Christians to leave the area in a “religious cleansing” that is part of a drive for. . . Read More
Islamism’s spread challenges religious rights
To coincide with the launch of Open Doors’ 2018 World Watch List, which ranks the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to live as a Christian, researchers at the charity have identified two major trends accompanying faith-based persecution. One of those is Islamic extremism. When a Filipino city of. . . Read More
Nationalism: religion as a form of belonging – and exclusion
To coincide with the launch of Open Doors’ 2018 World Watch List, which ranks the 50 countries in which it is most difficult to live as a Christian, researchers at the charity have identified two major trends accompanying faith-based persecution. One of those is nationalism. Nationalism is a powerful tool in. . . Read More
Nigeria: when Fulani herdsmen and farmers clash
Many experts on Nigeria now believe that violence across the Middle Belt, which World Watch Monitor has reported at length, has been responsible for more deaths than Boko Haram. As Emmanuel Akinwotu wrote last year in the New Statesman, the conflict – between ‘indigenous’ settled farmers (mainly Christian) and nomadic. . . Read More
5 Things to know about violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt
In northern Nigeria, targeted violence against Christians comes not only from the Islamic militants of Boko Haram. Clashes with militants among the predominantly Muslim Fulani herdsmen have claimed thousands of Christian lives in Nigeria’s Middle Belt – the handful of states straddling the pre-colonial line dividing Nigeria’s predominantly Muslim north from. . . Read More
Why are attacks on Egypt’s Coptic Christians getting worse?
Attacks on Christians in Egypt have intensified in brutality because of an influx of arms and foreign jihadis, lax border security and increased local hostility to non-Muslims, according to a leading UK academic. Dr Mariz Tadros of Sussex University’s Institute of Development Studies said that the suicide attack on a. . . Read More
Central African Republic – the world’s most neglected conflict
In a report on 5 June, Human Rights Watch noted that “violence in the Central African Republic has fallen from the world’s radar, but that does not mean the killings have let up. Over a dozen armed groups now roam the country, committing a range of abuses. Violence is on. . . Read More
Islamic State in Asia: what you need to know
When Islamic State (IS) launched its so-called caliphate in 2014 it had seized territory in Iraq and Syria. However over the last 18 months, militants claiming allegiance to the group have carried out attacks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, while the group also has sympathisers in India. . . Read More
Why the Uyghurs are under pressure in Xinjiang
Both Muslims and Christians in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in north-west China find themselves under increased pressure from the Chinese authorities. An anti-terror mass rally in the southern city of Hotan in February, an increase in surveillance measures in public places, and the introduction of new anti-terror policies, are all. . . Read More
Building resistance to Mexico’s culture of corruption
While most people think of Syria or Iraq as the deadliest places on the planet, Latin America has recently fought its way into the conversation as the global epicentre of deadly crimes committed outside war zones. In 2015, 43 of the world’s 50 most dangerous cities were located in Latin. . . Read More
