{"id":5623,"date":"2024-06-29T00:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-06-29T00:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/learn\/biden-administration-criticized-for-omitting-nigeria-from-religious-persecution-watchlist\/"},"modified":"2024-06-29T00:33:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-29T00:33:00","slug":"biden-administration-criticized-for-omitting-nigeria-from-religious-persecution-watchlist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/biden-administration-criticized-for-omitting-nigeria-from-religious-persecution-watchlist\/","title":{"rendered":"\u0410\u0434\u043c\u0438\u043d\u0438\u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u0446\u0438\u044e \u0411\u0430\u0439\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0430 \u043a\u0440\u0438\u0442\u0438\u043a\u0443\u044e\u0442 \u0437\u0430 \u0438\u0441\u043a\u043b\u044e\u0447\u0435\u043d\u0438\u0435 \u041d\u0438\u0433\u0435\u0440\u0438\u0438 \u0438\u0437 \u0441\u043f\u0438\u0441\u043a\u0430 \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d, \u0433\u0434\u0435 \u043f\u0440\u0435\u0441\u043b\u0435\u0434\u0443\u044e\u0442 \u0437\u0430 \u0440\u0435\u043b\u0438\u0433\u0438\u043e\u0437\u043d\u044b\u0435 \u0443\u0431\u0435\u0436\u0434\u0435\u043d\u0438\u044f"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/258150\/biden-administration-criticized-for-omitting-nigeria-from-religious-persecution-watchlist\">\u0418\u0441\u0442\u043e\u0447\u043d\u0438\u043a <\/a><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%;margin-bottom: 25px\">\n  <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/nigeria-map-aug-2023.jpg?quality=80&#038;ssl=1\" style=\"display: block;margin: auto;max-width: 100%\" \/><br \/>\n  <span style=\"text-align: right;font-style: italic\">A map of Nigeria. \/ Credit: SevenMaps\/Shutterstock<\/span>\n<\/div>\n<p>Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 28, 2024 \/ 18:50 pm (CNA).<\/p>\n<p>Religious freedom activists are criticizing the Biden State Department for continuing to leave Nigeria off its \u201ccountries of particular concern\u201d (CPC) watchlist, despite the department\u2019s\u00a0own\u00a0report highlighting the violent persecution of Christians in the country.<\/p>\n<p>One expert said\u00a0that Nigeria\u2019s\u00a0exclusion reveals a \u201ctroubling inconsistency\u201d in the State Department\u2019s policy toward religious freedom.<\/p>\n<p>\u041a\u0430\u0442\u043e\u043b\u0438\u0447\u0435\u0441\u043a\u0430\u044f \u0446\u0435\u0440\u043a\u043e\u0432\u044c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/reports\/2023-report-on-international-religious-freedom\/\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"editor-rtfLink\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">&nbsp;2023 Report on International Religious Freedom<\/a>, released by the State Department on Wednesday, highlights the religious liberty situation in nearly 200 countries and territories.<\/p>\n<p>Announcing the\u00a0release of the report, Secretary of State Antony Blinken decried rising religious intolerance across the globe and cast a \u201cvision\u201d for the world in which \u201ceveryone\u00a0is able to\u00a0choose and practice their beliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Advocates took issue with the report\u2019s characterization of the persecution of Christians in Nigeria as a series of \u201cintercommunal clashes\u201d and the result of competition for resources rather than radicalized Islamic groups.<\/p>\n<p>Nina Shea, director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute, told CNA that the report demonstrates a \u201cbroader agenda\u201d on the part of the Biden State Department of \u201cnot criticizing the attacks on Christians in Nigeria.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese attacks, these horrible Hamas-like bloody assaults, very violent, very brutal, they never seem to be stopped or investigated, or prosecuted by the government,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Christians under attack are defenseless, they\u2019re not being protected by their\u00a0own\u00a0governments, and [they] don\u2019t have militias of their own. So, they\u2019re extremely vulnerable.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>What is going on in Nigeria?&nbsp;<\/h2>\n<p>Nigeria is the largest country in Africa by population. About half of the Nigerian population, over 111 million\u00a0people, are Christian. Despite this, the Nigerian government is dominated by Muslims and many states in the country operate under Sharia law.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Christian population has increasingly come under fire in recent years and\u00a0has been\u00a0targeted by several Islamic terrorist groups, such as Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province, and radical groups of the Fulani ethnic tribe.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>According to the State Department\u2019s report, there were over 4,000 Christians killed, 3,300 abducted, and 100,000 displaced in Nigeria between October 2022 and September 2023.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Nigerian government has largely turned a blind eye to these attacks, in many cases refusing to dispatch police or military forces until well after attacks have occurred.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Nigeria targets Christians with anti-blasphemy, prosecuting them for speaking in defense of their religion.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The report recognizes the uptick in attacks, killings, and kidnappings, and prosecutions\u00a0have\u00a0resulted in what it calls \u201ca climate of fear and displacement\u201d among the Christian population. Yet it also says that \u201cbecause issues of religion, ethnicity, land,\u00a0and\u00a0resource competition, and criminality are often closely linked, it was difficult to categorize many incidents as being solely, or even primarily, based on religious identity.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Nigeria left off\u00a0list\u00a0with\u00a0world\u2019s\u00a0worst\u00a0abusers<\/h2>\n<p>Shea said that because more Christians are killed in Nigeria than in any other country in the world, there is no excuse for it not being on the CPC list, which she explained is an effective \u201cshort list of the world\u2019s worst abusers.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Countries currently on the list include China, North Korea, Russia, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Shea explained that the CPC list helps to effectuate change by exerting U.S. economic and diplomatic pressure. In many instances CPC designation can come with special economic sanctions, something she said would be especially effective in Nigeria\u2019s case since the U.S. sends the country over $1 billion in<a href=\"https:\/\/www.state.gov\/the-united-states-and-nigeria-partnering-for-prosperity\/#:~:text=The%20United%20States%20provided%20nearly,relief%2C%20security%2C%20and%20more.\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"editor-rtfLink\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">&nbsp;annual aid<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe United States gives a billion dollars in foreign aid to Nigeria every year, and it needs to ensure that that aid is well spent so that it\u2019s not contributing to this, and that the government of Nigeria is\u00a0actually\u00a0protecting all its citizens,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Sean Nelson, an attorney with the advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom International, told CNA that the State Department\u2019s report demonstrates an incoherence and inconsistency within the administration\u2019s policy toward Nigeria.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe exclusion of Nigeria from the CPC list despite the clear evidence provided by the State Department\u2019s\u00a0own\u00a0reporting reveals a deeply troubling inconsistency in the Biden administration\u2019s approach to the fundamental right of religious freedom that undermines the U.S.\u2019s credibility,\u201d Nelson said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA consistent approach,\u201d he went on, \u201cmaintains the seriousness with which our nation has always viewed the violation of this fundamental right, while an inconsistent approach relegates the right to religious freedom to second-class status.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first step to addressing these grave issues, even with our friends, is acknowledging them, and words without actions only have a small impact,\u201d he said. \u201cThe State Department should follow the evidence to its logical conclusion and use the tools that Congress has given it to\u00a0make sure\u00a0that the promotion of international religious freedom remains a U.S. foreign policy priority.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>[ad_2]<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Source A map of Nigeria. \/ Credit: SevenMaps\/Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Jun 28, 2024 \/ 18:50 pm (CNA). Religious freedom activists are criticizing the Biden State Department for continuing to leave Nigeria off its \u201ccountries of particular concern\u201d (CPC) watchlist, despite the department\u2019s\u00a0own\u00a0report highlighting the violent persecution of Christians in the country. One expert [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-5623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-news"],"mb":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/1719621182_nigeria-map-aug-2023.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&quality=80&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":79612,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/religious-freedom-panel-faults-state-department-for-missing-annual-report-on-violations\/","url_meta":{"origin":5623,"position":0},"title":"Religious Freedom panel faults State Department for missing annual report on violations","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"10 \u043c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) is calling out the State Department for failing to comply with the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA), the federal law that requires transmission of an annual report on religious freedom violations to Congress.USCIRF also said the Trump administration\u2019s decision to suspend the\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 &quot;Christian News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68292,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/trump-threatens-military-action-if-nigeria-fails-to-end-religious-persecution-of-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":5623,"position":1},"title":"Trump threatens military action if Nigeria fails to end religious persecution of Christians","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"29 \u043d\u043e\u044f\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"President Donald Trump holds a press briefing with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in August 2025. \/ Credit: Joey Sussman\/ Shutterstock Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 3, 2025 \/ 18:30 pm (CNA). U.S. President Donald Trump threatened military action against Nigeria if it fails to end Christian persecution.\u201cIf the Nigerian government continues\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 &quot;Christian News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Trump threatens military action if Nigeria fails to end religious persecution of Christians","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Trump-threatens-military-action-if-Nigeria-fails-to-end-religious-persecution-of-Christians.webp?fit=800%2C533&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Trump-threatens-military-action-if-Nigeria-fails-to-end-religious-persecution-of-Christians.webp?fit=800%2C533&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Trump-threatens-military-action-if-Nigeria-fails-to-end-religious-persecution-of-Christians.webp?fit=800%2C533&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Trump-threatens-military-action-if-Nigeria-fails-to-end-religious-persecution-of-Christians.webp?fit=800%2C533&quality=75&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":66648,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/aaf-and-icc-congress-must-act-to-stop-the-genocide-of-christians-in-nigeria\/","url_meta":{"origin":5623,"position":2},"title":"AAF and ICC: Congress Must Act to Stop the Genocide of Christians in Nigeria","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"5 \u043d\u043e\u044f\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Nigeria (International Christian Concern) \u2014 For once, Bill Maher is right. One of the most horrifying yet underreported crises of our time is unfolding in Nigeria, Africa\u2019s most populous nation, and home to one of the largest Christian communities on the continent. A new report by the Nigeria-based International Society\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 &quot;Christian News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69733,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/african-union-responds-to-trumps-claims-regarding-nigerias-religious-freedom\/","url_meta":{"origin":5623,"position":3},"title":"African Union Responds to Trump\u2019s Claims Regarding Nigeria\u2019s Religious Freedom","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"19 \u043d\u043e\u044f\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The African Union finally addresses the killing of Christians in Nigeria and released its statement in response to President Donald Trump\u2019s threats to Nigeria if circumstances do not change.\u00a0 On Oct. 31, Trump officially designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and called attention to the targeting of\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 &quot;Christian News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69745,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/african-union-responds-to-trumps-claims-regarding-nigerias-religious-freedom-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":5623,"position":4},"title":"African Union Responds to Trump\u2019s Claims Regarding Nigeria\u2019s Religious Freedom","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"24 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The African Union finally addresses the killing of Christians in Nigeria and released its statement in response to President Donald Trump\u2019s threats to Nigeria if circumstances do not change.\u00a0 On Oct. 31, Trump officially designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) and called attention to the targeting of\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 &quot;Christian News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":77807,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/u-s-lawmakers-introduce-legislation-to-stem-persecution-in-nigeria\/","url_meta":{"origin":5623,"position":5},"title":"U.S. Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Stem Persecution in Nigeria","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"30 \u043c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Africa Subcommittee, and Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV), with the support of other lawmakers, introduced legislation that would require the U.S. Secretary of State to compile and submit a comprehensive report to Congress on U.S. efforts to address Christian persecution\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 &quot;Christian News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"mfb_rest_fields":["title","jetpack_publicize_connections","jetpack_featured_media_url","jetpack-related-posts","jetpack_sharing_enabled"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5623\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5623"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=5623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}