Tag: Refugees

Sudan: Christian refugee children made to recite Muslim prayers to get food

September 6, 2017 Sudan Nuba Mountains, Refugees, South Sudan, Sudan

Christian children in a Sudanese refugee camp are having to recite Islamic prayers before receiving food, according to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). A source, who wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons, told ACN: “We have heard stories where children are conditioned to say . . . Read More

Sweden to Iranian convert it plans to deport: ‘It’s not our problem you chose to become a Christian’

August 16, 2017 Aideen Strandsson, Amin Afshar Naderi, Apostasy, Asylum seekers, Converts, Europe, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Iran, Migrants, Netherlands, Refugees, Sharia, Sweden, UK

Iranian convert, Aideen Strandsson, is still waiting for an appeal hearing after her asylum request in Sweden was rejected. (Photo: World Watch Monitor)

An Iranian convert to Christianity has been refused asylum in Sweden, placing her at risk of deportation and “torture and rape” in jail in her home country. Aideen Strandsson, 37, who was baptised in Sweden in 2014, said officials at the country’s Migration Board did not believe her life would . . . Read More

Why Syrian and Iraqi Christians eye different futures

August 3, 2017 Syria Asylum seekers, Iraq, Refugees, Syria, UN, USA

Despite the violence, around 30,000 of Aleppo's 250,000 Christians have remained in Syria's ancient second city

Iraqi Christians who decide to flee the Middle East feel they have no future there, whereas Syrian Christians wish to return home because they believe they have a future there under President Bashar Al-Assad. That is the view of human rights lawyer and genocide expert Ewelina Ochab, who has interviewed . . . Read More

Archbishop of Canterbury speaks ‘strongly’ to Sudan President of religious freedom for Christians

July 31, 2017 Sudan Apostasy, Episcopal Church of Sudan, Islamic extremism, Justin Welby, Kadugli, Khartoum, Mariam Ibrahim, Omar al-Bashir, Pentecostals, Refugees, Sharia, South Sudan, Sudan, Sudan Presbyterian Evangelical Church, Uganda

Archbishop of Canterbury in Sudan, 29 July, 2017 (Credit: Archbishop of Canterbury)

The advent of the world’s newest country, South Sudan, in 2011 has not been without its impact. Not only has it spawned a civil war and one of the world’s biggest current humanitarian crises, but also the need for a new Province in the global Anglican Communion. This weekend, the . . . Read More

‘Thousands’ of Iranians claiming asylum in Europe as converts to Christianity

July 19, 2017 Iran Asylum seekers, Baptism, Converts, Europe, Iran, Migrants, Refugees

Thousands of Iranian asylum-seekers across Europe are turning to Christianity, though observers are not convinced that all claims of conversion are genuine. A BBC documentary, Praying for Asylum, tells the story of a number of Iranian asylum-seekers in the Netherlands who say they have become Christians and would be exposed . . . Read More

G20 ‘missed opportunity’ to tackle major global issue: religious freedom

July 14, 2017 Global News -- No Particular Country Angela Merkel, China, Eritrea, G20, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mexico, Migrants, Refugees, Religious freedom, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey

By not discussing international religious freedom at the G20 summit in Germany last weekend, world leaders failed to address the root cause of major global issues like the migrant crisis, says David Curry, CEO of Open Doors USA. As a result, “we can expect more violence from religious intolerance, a . . . Read More

More Christian than Muslim refugees in US under Trump, but fewer overall

July 14, 2017 Chaldeans, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Donald Trump, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Migrants, Mike Pence, Refugees, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, USA, Yemen

Christians account for a steadily growing share of refugee arrivals in the US, Pew Research has found, although the net number of Christian arrivals may in fact be shrinking. In its review of US State Department data, published on 12 July, Pew noticed a gradual increase in the numbers of . . . Read More

Food aid starts to reach 5m Boko Haram victims, now at risk of famine

July 10, 2017 Nigeria Abuja, Boko Haram, Cameroon, IDPs, Jos, Lagos, Migrants, Refugees

15,000 families who are facing 'acute food insecurity' in northern Nigeria receive food aid. (Photo: Open Doors)

It’s been called the “greatest crisis on the African continent“. The UN’s World Food Programme in mid-June warned that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians could starve to death in the famine-threatened northeast due to lack of aid funds to feed them. It needs $172 million to help. Now the militants . . . Read More

Security not only concern for Syrians returning home

July 4, 2017 Syria Aleppo, Damascus, Homs, IDPs, Islamic State, Maaloula, Migrants, Refugees, Trauma, UN

As Islamic State forces are pushed back and more areas declared “safe”, Syrians are starting to return to their homes. According to the UN’s Refugee Agency (the UNHCR), nearly half a million have gone back since January. Around 440,000 internally displaced people, and more than 31,000 refugees who had fled . . . Read More

Thousands of Nigerian refugees forced back home to looming famine

June 30, 2017 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Borno, Cameroon, Chad, IDPs, Niger, Refugees, UN, Yobe

Thousands of Nigerians who fled Boko Haram’s insurgency, and sought refuge in neighbouring Cameroon, have been forced back home, the UN said on 29 June, as Reuters reports. According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), some 887 Nigerians, most of them children, were repatriated against their will on 27 June alone. The . . . Read More

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