An organization that works to raise awareness of Christian persecution around the world has urged the federal government to redesignate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) due to extreme levels of violence against Christians in the country.
Save the Persecuted Christians (STPC) President Dede Laugesen made the demand during a Sept. 3 Capitol Hill press conference and the Sept. 29 International Religious Freedom Roundtable in Washington, D.C.. She also called for the government to recognize the Fulani Ethnic Militia (FEM) as an entity of particular concern.
According to an Oct. 2 news release, Laugesen compared the dearth of mainstream media coverage of the ongoing persecution of Nigerian Christians with underreporting of the Holocaust.
“The ongoing genocide of Christians in Nigeria receives the same disjointed, sparse, manipulated and propagandized coverage in international mainstream media,” she noted.
As CatholicVote has reported, Islamic militant groups, including members of the Fulani ethnic group and terrorist organization Boko Haram, have systematically targeted Christians for years. Due to repeated massacres and other forms of violence, several watchdog organizations have designated Nigeria as the most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian.
>> Nigeria once again declared world’s deadliest country for Christians <<
According to the release, the Nigerian government and law enforcement do little to respond to the attacks against Christians.
In her remarks at the roundtable, Laugesen said, “It is absurd to think the Nigerian military is unaware, yet nothing has been done to clear these Fulani-operated hostage camps and save the victims.”
She called for media around the world to cover the massacres in Nigeria just as they report on the Ukraine-Russia or Israel-Hamas wars.
“Do Black African Christians merit any less attention? Do the women and children of Nigeria matter to Western media?” she asked.
Laugesen celebrated legislation introduced to Congress last month that would impose sanctions on Nigerian officials who enable jihadist violence against Christians and redesignate the country as a CPC. However, she noted that the legislation, put forward by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-N.J., would only designate Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) as entities of particular concern, omitting FEM from the classification. The US must add FEM to that list, according to Laugesen.
She said, “The genocide of Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt will not end until the international community and the Nigerian government are compelled to address the Fulani Ethnic Militia and their parallel jihad operating with great effect in tandem with Boko Haram and ISWAP.”
