Buildings Turned Scarlet For Red Wednesday In Solidarity With Victims Of Religious Persecution

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(OPINION) Last week, landmark buildings around the world turned scarlet for Red Wednesday. Red Wednesday is a campaign of Aid to the Church in Need, a pontifical foundation, in solidarity with Christians around the world who have been persecuted for their religious beliefs. Over the years, the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey in London, the Colosseum in Rome, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Mary in Washington, DC and many more landmarks were lit red to mark this important day in an attempt to raise awareness of religious persecution globally.

Many organizations and research institutes continue to raise awareness for religious persecution globally. The reports put together by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Aid to the Church in Need, Open Doors and many more have, for years, been successful in documenting the persecution suffered by religious groups and in explaining its impact on the groups as a whole. Their reports are filled with instances of abuse, humiliation, violence perpetrated against religious groups carried out because they were simply expressing their religious belief in public or merely because they belonged to or identified themselves with a particular religious group. While Christian minorities are being considered as the most persecuted religious group in the world, it is noteworthy that in countries where Christians are persecuted, other religious minorities are also subjected to such treatment.

Marking Red Wednesday, Aid to the Church in Need launched its new report entitled “Set Your Captives Free,” with forward from Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who was accused of making blasphemous statements during an argument about drinking water from a well. She was acquitted in 2018 after spending eight years on death row. Several months later, she has managed to leave Pakistan in pursuit of a new life. 

The new report identifies several individuals detained for their faith. For example, in China, Bishop James Su Zhimin he had spent more than 25 years in prison or forced labour camps, on and off, after he refused to join the Catholic Patriotic Association. Others detained by the Chinese authorities include Bishop Augustine Cui Tai of Xuanhua, Father Zhang Guilin and Father Wang Zhong of Chongli-Xiwanzi Diocese, Pastor Wang Yi, Pastor Zhang Shaojie. In Eritrea, Abune Antonios, Patriarch of the Eritrean Orthodox Tawahedo Church, has been under house arrest since 2007. No charges have been brought against him. The list goes on. 

However, the report also identifies individuals “detained” by non-state actors. For example, the report mentions Leah Sharibu, a Christian girl enslaved by Boko Haram. Leah was one of the 110 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram members from their school in Dapchi, Nigeria, in February 2018. Despite the fact that all of the girls have now been released, Boko Haram refused to let Leah go. According to one of the other girls, Leah declined to renounce her Christian faith. This is the reason Boko Haram continues to enslave her.

The report also mentions Maira Shahbaz, a teenage Christian girl from Pakistan who was abducted at gun point, forcibly converted and forcibly married. After escaping captivity, she has been in hiding following death threats. She may never be safe in Pakistan and is in urgent need of a new home abroad. 

The steps that need to be taken to address the atrocities vary from case to case. However, in every case, it is crucial that the case receives as much attention as possible. We must shed light on the atrocities. The atrocities have to be reported and investigated. Initiatives like Red Wednesday are an important way of doing so. Depending on the root-causes, legal and policy steps have to follow to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice and that the persecuted minorities can live in accordance with their beliefs. While the Red Wednesday initiative is focused on events far from home, this does not mean that there is nothing we can do to help. There is plenty to be done without even venturing past the front door. For example, one could consider engaging their regional representatives to parliament to discuss these issues at the parliamentary level. A small step but if there is enough pressure, it can go a long way.

Ewelina U. Ochab is a legal researcher and human rights advocate, PhD candidate and author of the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of persecution of minorities around the world. This piece was re-published from Forbes with permission