Calls to extend foreign aid to assist persecuted religious minorities

The government is being urged to dedicate more foreign aid to supporting Christians and other religious minorities being persecuted for his or her faith.

An open letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy warns that persecution shouldn’t be only “widespread” but “it is also becoming more cruel”.

The letter has been published by Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) within the run-up to its annual Red Wednesday initiative highlighting global persecution, which this 12 months takes place on 20 November.

“ACN research consistently shows that oppression has intensified, and impunity against perpetrators has grown,” the letter says.

“This persecution included extreme violations of Article 18 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the best to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.” 

The letter expresses disappointment that support for persecuted religious minorities was not included within the previous government’s 10-year strategy for international development released in 2022.

The Labour government “has a possibility to alleviate significant injustices all over the world by refocusing UK aid”, ACN said. 

Although the charity is asking for more foreign aid to support all persecuted religious minorities, it says that the plight of Christians “deserves to be highlighted specifically, as a plethora of sources show that their situation continues to worsen across the globe”.

“Evidence reveals that a) Christians suffer harassment in additional countries than another faith groupiii and b) more Christians are oppressed than other faith groups – with tons of of thousands and thousands currently under threat,” the letter reads.

It calls for religious minorities to be included as one in all the federal government’s foreign aid priorities and concludes by recommending “a standalone religious freedom technique to outline essentially the most effective technique of aid deployment to victims of spiritual discrimination and persecution”. 

ACN’s John Pontifex said: “For so a few years, governments and officials have tended to have a ‘faith blind’ approach, overlooking the degree to which religious hatred and discrimination are significant drivers of maximum poverty, joblessness, sexual violence and other types of torture.

“This latest government has a wonderful opportunity to deal with one in all the most important, most egregious injustices facing the world today. By making religious minorities goal beneficiaries of ODA (UK Overseas Development Aid), the UK can play a number one role in alleviating the plight of countless innocent people suffering all over the world merely for his or her faith.”

Red Wednesday will see the publication of ACN’s annual report on persecution, Persecuted and Forgotten? A Report on Christians oppressed for his or her Faith, which is predicted to indicate a surge in violence, oppression and other discrimination.