According to a report by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), out of the estimated 7,000 perpetrators, only about 300 were arrested for vandalism and arson by the end of last October, and at least 100 of them were later released.
Extremists murdered 414 people and injured, raped or kidnapped almost 100 more in Benue State last year, according to a report sent to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) by Makurdi Diocese’s Foundation for Justice, Development and Peace.
The Sisters of Saint Anne and their two companions were held captive for five days after being kidnapped by unidentified gunmen on Friday, 19th January while travelling in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital.
In a country where the Christian minority faces frequent discrimination and is often treated as second-class citizens, many parents wish to send their children to a school with a Catholic ethos.
The abduction took place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, when six Sisters of Saint Anne – who have not been named – were travelling to a university.
More than 130 people have died in Lebanon because of violence in the border region, including 17 civilians, according to media reports. While Israeli strikes have been directed at Hezbollah targets, located mostly in Shi‘a areas, a number of Christian villages also suffered collateral damage.
Those receiving gifts this Christmas include the children of two widows, Farha and Nidaa, from the Lebanese village of Qaa on the Syrian border, whose husbands – the families’ sole breadwinners – were killed in a Daesh (ISIS) suicide attack in 2016.
An airstrike killed 17 Christians sheltering in the Orthodox Church of Saint Porphyrius on 19th October, and five others have died from the lack of medical care.
Syria’s Christian population declined from about 1.5 million to between 300,000-500,000 during the 12 years following the outbreak of the civil war in 2011, according to ACN’s Religious Freedom in the World Report 2023.
