Responding to a government-commissioned report, British officials are pledging to take steps to protect persecuted Christians worldwide, including legislation to sanction offending nations.
The report, the "Bishop of Truro's Independent Review for the Foreign Secretary of [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] Support for Persecuted Christians," confirmed that "today, Christians constitute by far the most widely persecuted religion."
It found that "Christians have been harassed in more countries than any other religious group and have suffered harassment in many of the heavily Muslim countries of the Middle East and North Africa."
Some 245 million Christians live in the top 50 countries for persecution and they suffer "high levels" or worse. Previously, only one country, North Korea, was classified as having "extreme" persecution. Now there are 11 countries.
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And now government officials are pledging to implement the report's recommendations.
The report calls for a U.N. Security Council resolution urging Islamic nations in the Middle East and Northern African countries to do more to protect Christians. And it recommends sending U.N. observers to monitor the effectiveness of security measures, imposing sanctions on regimes found to have committed "serious human rights abuses" against religious minorities and creating a Magna Carta Fund dedicated to their protection.
The Telegraph of London reported the government is also "rolling out mandatory training to help staff at home and abroad better identify persecution in all its forms as well as adopting a definition of anti-Christian discrimination and persecution, similar to those applied to Islamophobia and antisemitism."
Baroness Goldie, minister of state at the Ministry of Defense, speaking during a foreign affairs debate in the House of Lords last week, said the government intends "to implement the recommendations in full."
According to the Christian Institute, the report, by Rev. Philip Mounstephen, the Bishop of Truro, found "the persecution of Christians is so extreme it amounts to genocide in some parts of the world."
Goldie said the U.K., following its exit from the European Union, plans to "show global leadership" by penalizing nations that violate human rights.
She said the U.K. would impose sanctions "in response to serious human rights violations or abuses."
Penalties could include frozen assets as well as bans on offenders from entering the U.K.
In December, Prime Minister Boris Johnson used his Christmas address to highlight Christian persecution around the world.
He said that for millions, Christmas Day would be marked "in private, in secret, perhaps even in a prison cell."
"As prime minister, that’s something I want to change. We stand with Christians everywhere, in solidarity, and we will defend your right to practice your faith," he said.
'It is about their religion'
Turkish journalist Uzay Bulut, a senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, previously noted in reference to the British report that "persecution against Christians and other non-Muslims is not about the ethnicity, race or skin color of either the perpetrators or the victims; it is about their religion."
In Africa, he said, "various Islamist groups and individuals are attacking and attempting to annihilate Christians for being Christian. If these crimes are not stopped, it is highly likely that the fate of the African Continent will be like that of the Middle East: Once it was a majority-Christian region; now, Christians are a tiny, dying, defenseless minority."
He wrote that in addition to Christians being the most targeted, "the evidence suggests that acts of violence and other intimidation against Christians are becoming more widespread."
The report concluded the "the eradication of Christians and other minorities on pain of 'the sword' or other violent means was revealed to be the specific and stated objective of extremist groups in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, northeast Nigeria and the Philippines."
It found Christianity "now faces the possibility of being wiped out in parts of the Middle East where its roots go back further."
"In Palestine, Christian numbers are below 1.5 percent, in Syria the Christian population has declined from 1.7 million in 2011 to below 450,000 and in Iraq, Christian numbers have slumped from 1.5 million before 2003 to below 120,000 today."