ishtartv.com - christianpost.com
By Elizabeth
Yore | Tue 16 Jan 2018
With
much fanfare and publicity, January is declared as Human Trafficking Prevention
month, flush with hip hashtag campaigns, slick YouTube videos and modern
marketing materials. Missing from all the global human rights seminars,
celebrity public service announcements, blue ribbon campaigns and Hollywood
events is any mention of the hideous growing global human trafficking and
persecution of Christians around the world. Christian victims of human
trafficking and violence seldom merit a mention in the hype and hoopla.
Yet
the recently released and highly touted annual World
Watch List 2018 generated by Open Doors USA powerfully and
demonstrably highlights the global persecution of Christians. The World Watch
List is an annual report that ranks the top 50 countries where Christians are
persecuted for their faith.
The
2018 Open Doors report reveals shocking and disturbing data about the rise in
abduction and rape of Christian women around the world. According to the
report, 3,066 Christians were killed in 2017; 1,252 were abducted; and 1,020
were raped or sexually harassed. These growing, brutal and verifiable
statistics demonstrate the increased threat to Christians around the world.
Abduction and rape are the weapons human traffickers deploy against helpless
Christian women.
Criminal
traffickers target Christian women and girls for the crime of living their
Christian religion.
Professing
the Christian faith is often a death sentence around the world. Has the world
conveniently forgotten the April 2014 crisis where nearly 300 Nigerian Chibok
Christian school girls were abducted, raped and killed by the Islamic Boko
Haram terrorists? The world stood by helpless while their violent abduction and
kidnapping enfolded at the hands of Islamic terrorists.
The
#Bringbackourgirls campaign faded into oblivion as the Christian school girls
endured unimaginable torture and brutality. They were taken deep into the
Sambisa Forest to Boko Haram's stronghold, where these young Christian
schoolgirls were offered a choice: join the Islamic militants or become their
sex slaves. Since 2011, Boko Haram has killed nearly 54,000 people in its
deadly rage. These innocent Christian girls were subjected to forced Islamic
conversion, forced marriages, rape, servitude and, for some, death.
The
untold tale of Christians identified, targeted and abducted for their faith
remains a missing chapter in the global human trafficking scenario. This
reality is growing, and with the increased radicalization of Islam dominating
countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, Islamic traffickers terrorizing
Christians doesn't fit the liberal secular scenario.
The
Open Doors researchers warn that this dangerous trend is promulgated by
"Islamic oppression. It is one of the most widely recognized sources of
persecution for Christians in the world today—and it continues to spread—aiming
to bring many parts of the world under Sharia law. The movement, which often
results in Islamic militancy and persecution of Christians, is expanding in
Asia (Philippines, Bangladesh, Indonesia) and Africa (Egypt, Nigeria,
Somalia)."
The
World Report details the underlying cause for this huge uptick in persecution
of Christians:
"Persecution
comes from the government and radical Muslims and is systematic and reminiscent
of ethnic cleansing. Historically, Islam is deeply embedded in these
governments and societies, and the government strictly implements the policy of
one religion, one culture and one language." Hence, Christianity is
targeted for eradication and extinction.
Country
after country is described in the following terms that make Christians an
endangered species: "Much of the Christian persecution in (Pakistan) comes
from radical Islamic groups that flourish under the favor of political parties,
the army and the government. These radical Islamic groups run thousands of
Islamic education centers where youth are taught and encouraged to persecute
religious minorities like Christians."
Media
outlets and news headlines rarely cover the daily persecution of Christians.
The media seldom identifies or describes the real culprit of this systematic
cleansing of Christian minorities as radical Islam embedded in the culture of
Sharia law. Islamic militants and their criminal organizations foster a reign
of terror against Christian minorities. Eradicating Christianity is their goal,
and any violent and brutal means are justified. The report boldly proclaims
that "Islamic oppression fuels persecution in 8 of the top 10
countries."
William
Wilberforce, the great British leader of the slave abolitionist movement,
wisely observed that "you may choose to look the other way but you can
never say again that you did not know."
We
can no longer bury our head in the sand and ignore the reality of Christian
persecution at the hands of Islamic trafficking terrorists.
Elizabeth
Yore is an international child advocate attorney with expertise in human
trafficking, child exploitation, missing children and female genital
mutilation, and has worked for Oprah Winfrey as her child advocate. Yore was
formerly the General Counsel at the National Center for Missing and Abducted
Children
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