CSW concerned at critical omissions from State Department’s Countries of Particular Concern list
18 Nov 2021
CSW is deeply concerned at the United States (US) State Department’s decision to remove Nigeria from its Countries of Particular Concern (CPC) list, in addition to their continued omission of several other countries in which the situation of freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) remains under serious threat.
Under the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998, the State Department is required to review the situation of FoRB in every country around the world, and designate those in which the government has engaged in or tolerated “systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious freedom” as CPCs.
Nigeria was added to the CPC list for the first time in 2020, but has now been removed from both the Tier 1 list and a second Special Watch List, which currently includes Algeria, Comoros, Cuba, and Nicaragua.
The failure to re-designate Nigeria so soon after it became a CPC is particularly concerning in view of ongoing, egregious religion-related violence by the terrorist group Boko Haram in the northeast, and assailants of Fulani origin in central States, and historic violations targeting Christian communities in the country’s Shari’a states. Violations have increased exponentially under the current administration. Since 2015 thousands have died and tens of thousands have been displaced in a campaign of attacks on predominantly Christian communities in central Nigeria by assailants of Fulani origin for whom religion is either a recruitment factor or a governing ethos.
This violence has been insufficiently addressed, and has metastasised, occasioning similar death and displacement in Muslim communities of Hausa ethnicity in northwestern states, and a general rise in abductions for ransom across the country by assailants of predominantly Fulani origin. Worryingly, terrorists in the north east have cemented ties with armed non-state actors both in northwestern and central Nigeria, amidst reports of the relocation of two Boko Haram leaders, their fighters and several bomb makers to forests in the south of Kaduna state, and of an Al Qaeda presence in the same area.
In Shari’a states, Christian communities continue to face a host of violations, including the abduction, forced conversion and marriage without parental consent of underage girls, and land seizures without compensation. CSW’s Nigeria office is currently working to assist seven families whose underage daughters were abducted by members of their local communities. In three cases in the Rogo Local Government Area (LGA) of Kano state, Muslim local authorities are reportedly collecting dowry for the girls, the youngest of whom is aged 14, on behalf of perspective suitors, and are offering them for marriage “at no cost” in January 2022, if not earlier.
In October the Kaduna state government demolished 263 buildings in the predominantly Christian Gracelands community in Zaria, including six churches, a school complex and homes, despite a court ruling against any demolition in at least one instance. The demolitions were carried out overnight and on the pretext that the land belonged to the National College of Aviation Technology (NCAT), yet the proprietors, who informed CSW they have heard nothing from the government since the demolitions occurred, had been granted official certificates of ownership for the land and had been paying all necessary taxes.
In Kano state, the majority of the children seized during police raids on the Du Merci Centre orphanages in Kano and Kaduna states in December 2019 have yet to be returned to Professor Richard Solomon Musa Tarfa and his wife Mercy, despite the dismissal of abduction charges against the professor, while six others aged four to eight were forcefully relocated to a remote area where their names have allegedly been changed.
In response to Nigeria’s removal from the list, the Chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Nadine Maenza, said in a statement: “While the State Department took steps forward on some designations, USCIRF is especially displeased with the removal of Nigeria from its CPC designation, where it was rightfully placed last year.”
A local CSW source said: “This decision is very disappointing, it will give perpetrators the green light to continue violating our rights.”
Also omitted from both lists were India, Syria and Vietnam, all of which were recommended for CPC designation by USCIRF in its April 2021 report, and in which violations of FoRB continue to meet the threshold laid out in the IRFA.
CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said: “CSW is highly alarmed at the US State Department’s premature removal of Nigeria from the CPC list at a time when the Nigerian authorities are still failing to protect vulnerable communities, while restricting the ability of journalists, activists and even victims to draw attention to their plight. We are also concerned at the continued omission of India, Syria and Vietnam, and appeal to the State Department to urgently review the situation of freedom of religion or belief in each of these countries, ensuring that economic and other exigences are not prioritised at the expense of the rights, freedoms and lives of individuals and religious communities.”
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URGENT STATEMENT 19 NOVEMBER 2021
The US Department of State must reverse its decision to remove Nigeria from its list of ‘Violators of Religious Freedom’
Human Rights Law is clear: everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, including the freedom to change religion.
Yet in Nigeria today, tens of thousands of civilians experience severe violations of this fundamental right.
We urge the State Department to reverse its decision to remove Nigeria from its list of ‘Violators of Religious Freedom’.
Massacres and abductions
We receive daily reports of terrorist violence, massacres, forced displacement, forced conversions, forced marriage and abductions for ransom. Experts say that religious affiliation is often used to recruit and inspire violent acts. In many cases, attacks are predicated by a hatred of people who refuse to renounce their religious beliefs.
(Left) St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Zangam village attacked by Islamist Fulani militia in October 2019; (Right) During a visit to Zangam village, we pay respect to seven victims at their grave.
According to a seminal report by the Bishop of Truro:
“…in Nigeria, month after month, on average hundreds of Christians [are] being killed for reasons connected with their faith… Those worst affected [include] Christian women and girls abducted, and forced to convert, enter forced marriages, sexual abuse and torture.”
The same urgent concerns were raised in two other recent reports: ‘Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide?’ by the UK All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom of Religion or Belief; and ‘Nigeria’s Silent Slaughter: Genocide in Nigeria and the Implications for the International Community’, by the International Committee on Nigeria and the International Organisation on Peace-building & Social Justice.
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Example of recent attacks
Terrorist activity in Nigeria’s Middle Belt is dominated by Islamist Fulani militia. Since 2015, they have targeted predominantly-Christian villages with sophisticated weapons, destroying property and seizing land. The militia attack isolated communities when individuals are at their most vulnerable. As the villagers run, they are chased and hacked to death. Some local observers have gone so far as to describe the rising attacks as a campaign of ethno-religious cleansing.
In the previous three months, at least 140 Christians have been killed by Islamist Fulani militia and over 30 villages have been destroyed. HART’s partner in Nigeria, Revd Canon Hassan John, continues to visit the worst-affected areas to obtain evidence of atrocities. He told us today:
“The list of the subsistence killings goes on. The Christian farmers have been terrorised as the attacks continue to spread. Added to the attacks are the millions of Naira the villagers and targeted individuals have to pay for ransom. This has further impoverished the villagers.”
The exact death toll since 2015 is unknown. However, thousands of civilians are thought to have been killed in attacks led by Islamist Fulani militia and periodic retaliatory violence. Tens of thousands have been displaced. This is in addition to killings by Boko Haram, Islamic State of West Africa (ISWAP) and other extremist factions in Nigeria.
USA gives ‘green light’ to violence
Last year, we commended the decision by the US Department of State to designate Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern because of religious freedom violations. We also welcomed their recognition of escalating ‘religious-tinged violence’ and the need for a comprehensive response.
We are deeply disturbed by the State Department’s decision to reverse this designation. Their decision gives a green light to terrorist groups to continue their killings, abductions and land-grabs. As our partner Hassan John says:
“The 2020 designation of Nigeria had, at least, sent a message that the world was watching. But now, the message seems to be that the US is no longer interested in hundreds of deaths, that the killings are not of any concern to the USA… This further emboldens the militia and their sponsors. It spells doom for many communities.”
Given the scale and depth of suffering, we urge the State Department to reverse its decision and to shine a light on the numerous massacres, torture and abductions comprising severe violations of religious freedom in Nigeria.
Notes
• Humanitarian Aid Relief Trust (HART) is a UK-based charity founded by Baroness Cox in 2004.
• HART works through local partners in Nigeria to provide: (1) aid to those who suffer oppression
and persecution; (2) advocacy to reflect the priorities of local communities.
• We recognise the important distinction between the Fulani in general (a diverse group of more than 20 million people with hundreds of clans) and the sub-group of radicalised Fulani who carry out attacks. The term ‘Islamist Fulani militia’ is used to describe trained, well-armed men of Fulani ethnicity who launch attacks in the Middle Belt – as distinct from Fulani bandits in the north- west (who mainly attack Hausa Muslim communities) and Fulani in the north (many of whom are victims of attacks by Boko Haram). Large numbers of Fulani reside peaceably alongside Christian communities of differing ethnicities across the Middle Belt, including in Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and
southern Kaduna states.
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