By Rebecca Oas, Ph.D
Center for Family & Human Rights (C-Fam)
NEW YORK, April 29 (C-Fam) Held by terrorist captors, an Iraqi woman named Khalia resisted their demands that she abandon her Christian faith. Her story was told at the UN this week, along with other accounts of atrocities suffered by Christians and religious minorities in the Middle East at the hands of the Islamic State, or ISIS.
According to experts, 80% of acts of religious persecution worldwide are committed against Christians. At an event hosted by the Holy See along with CitizenGO, Mas Libres, and In Defense of Christians (IDC), experts and victims called on the international community to stop the violence, provide humanitarian support for victims, and ensure religious freedom to Christians and other minority religious groups.
Defining the situation as genocide is an important step in determining an appropriate response. Last month, the United States formally declared the actions of the Islamic State to be genocide, joining Pope Francis and the European Parliament. This finding by the U.S. was credited in part to a report submitted by the Knights of Columbus and IDC. Khalia’s account is one of many contained in its almost 300 pages.
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