Report: 1.3 million Nigerian Christians have fled their homes since 2000

March 04, 2016

Open Doors, an organization that advocates on behalf of persecuted Christians, has published a 47-page report on violence against Christians in northern Nigeria.

“Not just radical Islam, Boko Haram being the most notable example, but also Muslim Hausa-Fulani herdsmen and the northern Muslim political and religious elite are also major actors of targeted violence towards the Christian minority,” the report stated. “Moreover, Christian communities in Sharia states especially but also in other parts of northern Nigeria face the challenge to withstand the pressure of an environment that marginalizes and discriminates.”

The report found that a “minimum of 9,000-11,500 Christians have been killed,” that 1.3 million Christians have fled their homes since 2000, and that 13,000 churches “have been closed or destroyed altogether.”

 

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Further information:

• Crushed but not defeated: The impact of persistent violence on the Church in Northern Nigeria (Open Doors)