He added, “Washington had already illustrated its concern for events in Nigeria by designating Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province entities of particular concern in December 2023. Yet, the security situation has worsened, violent non-state actors have proliferated, and mass killings targeting the Christian community in central Nigeria have continued, along with discrimination and violations in Shari’a states.”
CPC designation occurs when a government is deemed to engage in or tolerate ‘systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom’, and is aimed at encouraging it to address them.
While the law requires the president to make the designation, the authority to do so is usually delegated to the secretary of state, who generally announces the full annual list of CPCs, Special Watch List countries, and Entities of Particular Concern in November or December.
CSW says that its offices in Nigeria, the UK, and USA had in October written to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio appealing for the redesignation of Nigeria as a CPC, “and subsequently, for the US government to assist, persuade, and whenever necessary, to pressure current and future Nigerian administrations to protect vulnerable communities.”
The Christian human rights foundation says that it had further, in its October letter, appealed to the US Secretary of State to hold both past and current sponsors and perpetrators of religious violence and discrimination accountable, to address policies and practices that discriminate on religious grounds, and to trace and target the financial activities that enable religious freedom violations, as well as the individuals behind them.
CSW claims that Nigerian authorities responded to its pleas by declaring that the “characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant” did not take into consideration “the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians.”
But according to CSW, in addition to “a system of religion-based repression and discrimination predating independence” that persists in Shari’a states, Nigeria also faces multifaceted and mounting security challenges from several armed non-state actors.
Some of these armed groups, CSW says, are either driven by religious extremism, or instrumentalize religion and ethnicity as rallying points. They include Boko Haram, Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), Ansaru, Lakurawa and Mahmuda.
Meanwhile, the human rights foundation has proposed that Nigerian government seeks help to address all forms of persecution in the country.
“We urge Nigeria to engage positively, and to view this designation as an opportunity to secure the assistance needed to trace and hold funders, facilitators and perpetrators of religion-related violations to account, and to close the protection gap by tackling every source of insecurity definitively,” Scot said.
