ACLJ Urges the UN To Save Dying Christians in Nigeria

Last year, 80% of Christian deaths worldwide occurred in Nigeria, which means no other place in the world is deadlier for Christians. The ACLJ recognizes this sobering truth and fights to save our Nigerian Christian brothers and sisters in constant peril. We have detailed the mass atrocities being carried out against innocent Nigerian Christians to the U.N. Human Rights Council 22 times, yet nothing is being done.

Who is responsible for this massive death toll in Nigeria? Christians in Nigeria continue to face unrelenting death and destruction at the hands of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. Just between February and mid-March of this year, Islamic extremists killed 280 people in Christian communities in Nigeria. Even just last week, Fulani herdsmen killed 10 Christians in a nighttime attack.

The ACLJ is committed to shedding light on this significant human rights violation and urges immediate action to protect innocent lives. This is why we appeared last week before the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) through our European affiliate, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), to deliver a critical oral intervention defending persecuted Christians in Nigeria.

As we stated in our oral intervention:

Islamic extremists such as Boko Haram and the Fulani herdsmen pose an existential threat to Christians living in Nigeria. These extremists kill, destroy homes and churches, and even abduct Christians. In the first 10 months of 2022, more than 4,000 Christians were killed, and another 2,300 were abducted.

In fact, in January of this year, Fulani herdsmen attacked a Christian community and proceeded to kill five Christians and kidnap five others. In another Christian community, Fulani herdsmen killed 12 Christians, including four children. Additionally, that same month, a Catholic priest was burned alive when extremists set fire to his home. 

Unfortunately, these are just a few of the countless stories of death and destruction being carried out against Christians on a daily basis. Every day, Christians in Nigeria wake up with the knowledge that, at any minute, they could be killed or abducted simply because of their faith.

Nigeria and the international community are clearly failing the people of Nigeria. If immediate and meaningful action is not taken now, Christians will not have a future in Nigeria. Every second we wait will only result in more death and destruction.

We urged the U.N. to intervene because its explicit purpose is “[t]o maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression . . . .” Unquestionably, the U.N. has failed to live up to its responsibility for Christians in Nigeria

Reports of Christians being killed, abducted, or their homes and churches being destroyed continue to mount daily. If the leaders of Nigeria and the international community don’t do something quickly, Christians will be extinct in Nigeria.

The ACLJ will never stop defending persecuted Christians in Nigeria and worldwide. Stand with us as we continue to shed light on the global persecution of Christians.