The U.S. government “must do more to pressure the Nigerian government to take action and protect its people from these heinous acts of violence against people of faith, and the CPC designation is an essential piece of such a strategy,” she said in written comments.
Sean Nelson, legal counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom International, said in a written statement, “The international religious freedom community is united in believing” the removal of Nigeria as a CPC was “a grave mistake.” Blinken “should take this opportunity now to right this wrong,” said Nelson, whose organization led in the letter initiative.
Among religious freedom violations mentioned in the letter:
- Militant Islamic groups such as Boko Haram and the Islamist State in West Africa Province attack Christians, as well as Muslims who reject their extremism, in Northeast Nigeria.
- In other parts of the country, some militia groups motivated by ethnic and religious factors target Christians disproportionately.
- Blasphemy laws in northern states are used against individuals and have helped create “a culture of mob violence that exploded in 2022.”
The letter pointed to reports from multiple organizations that recorded a growing number of deaths the last two years by religious adherents.
The U.S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a bipartisan panel selected by the president and congressional leaders, issued a report Sept. 6 in which it again called for CPC re-designation of Nigeria. USCIRF had expressed its disappointment when Blinken removed Nigeria as a CPC and recommended the country’s restoration to the list in its annual report in April.
RELATED: Two Nigeria Churches Attacked; Worshippers Killed, Abducted
USCIRF’s report cited many of the same deadly violations of religious freedom mentioned in the coalition letter to Blinken. In a report based partly on a USCIRF team’s visit to Nigeria in June, the commission said multiple people it interviewed named “poor governance as a core driver of violence” in Nigeria, a view it said also has been expressed in various reports.
In addition to the ERLC and ADF International, other organizations signing onto the letter included 21 Wilberforce, American Humanist Association, Christian Freedom International, Family Research Council, International Christian Concern, Jubilee Campaign USA and Religious Freedom Institute.
Among individuals endorsing the letter were Samuel Brownback, former U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom; Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute Center for Religious Freedom and a former USCIRF commissioner; Katrina Lantos Swett, president of the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice and former USCIRF chair; and Frank Wolf, former congressman and current USCIRF member.
In August 2021, the ERLC also joined a coalition letter that urged Blinken to designate Nigeria as a CPC for the second consecutive year. Mike Pompeo, the previous secretary of State, had placed Nigeria on the list for the first time in December 2020.
USCIRF, which consists of nine members, tracks the status of religious liberty worldwide and issues reports to Congress, the president and the State Department.
This article originally appeared at Baptist Press.
