WWW.PERSECUTION.

ORG MARCH 2023

PERSECU ION
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH SPECIAL

PERSECU ION
IRANIAN WOMEN

PERSECU ION
SAY ‘NO MORE’
TO THE RADICAL
ISLAMIC REGIME

PERSECU ION.ORG
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

Persevering Through
PERSECU ION.ORG
Persecution
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN

PERSECU ION.ORG
INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN CONCERN P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 1
 Contents
ON THE COVER
An unidentified woman wearing a
hijab symbolizes the thousands of
women protesting in the cultural
M A R C H 2023 movement happening in Iran.
Read more on page 10.
Photo: iStock.com/Ozbalci

F E AT U R E S

08 10
CUT TING THROUGH
14 16
THE BRAVEST MY CHRIST A CAPTIVE
WOMEN WE KNOW THE SILENCE CANNOT FAIL ME GENERATION
Lessons from Decades of persecution ICC comes alongside a Kidnapped Christian
persecuted women. and oppression mother who was kicked girls are forced to raise
catapulted a movement to the curb by her Muslim the next generation of
toward freedom. husband. terrorists.

“ S H E S P E A K S W I T H W I S D O M , A N D FA I T H F U L
I N S T R U C T I O N I S O N H E R TO N G U E . ”
P R OV E R B S 3 1 : 2 6

RECURRING

04 Y O U R H A N D S A N D F E E T ICC Projects Made Possible by Supporters

06 I C C N E W S R O O M Your Source for Persecution News

@persecuted @persecutionnews @internationalchristianconcern International Christian Concern

OUR MISSION: Since 1996, ICC has served the global
persecuted church through a three-pronged approach of
advocacy, awareness, and assistance. ICC exists to bandage
the wounds of persecuted Christians and to build the church
in the toughest parts of the world.
DONATIONS: International Christian Concern (ICC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) (all
donations tax-deductible). ICC makes every effort to honor donor wishes in regards to
their gifts. Occasionally, a situation will arise where a project is no longer viable. ICC
will redirect those donated funds to one of our other funds that is most similar to the
donor’s original wishes.

© Copyright 2023 ICC, Washington, D.C., USA. All rights reserved. STAFF
Publisher Jeff King
Permission to reproduce all or part of this publication is granted
MEMBER Editor Mike Anderson
provided attribution is given to ICC as the source. Designer Hannah Campbell
2 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
The Persecuted Mary’s of Our Day
J
esus elevated women to a place that they hadn’t We can’t save and help every hurting woman, but
possessed in the past. we are your faithful hands and feet to intervene
Look in the Gospels, and you will see his love for where the Lord leads.
and tenderness with the Samaritan woman at the Finally, despite what narrative our culture pushes,
well and the woman to be stoned for adultery. Look the Lord made ‘male’ and ‘female’ genders; with
at his close relationship with sisters Mary and Mar- equal, clear, distinct gifts, roles, and abilities—but
tha; they were his co-laborers in the faith. I won’t take us down that rabbit trail. Today, we
Finally, in a plan that perhaps most clearly reveals celebrate the ones Jesus chose and loved, women!
His value of women, He arranged for a woman to May God bless you for holding the hand of those
be the one to discover that He had risen. He chose who desperately need comfort.
Mary to be the one to inform the male apostles of In Him. JEFF
the resurrection. He chose her to spread the word
that everything had changed.
This month, we examine the topic of women and
persecution. We start in Iran, where you will learn
about the government’s treatment of the women
they consider enemies.
For years I have told you how the Iranians have
treated arrested female Christian church workers
(brutal doesn’t come close to describing what they
do). Recently, Iranian authorities tortured and killed
a non-Christian woman for not properly following
the rules of Islam, starting a wave of protests to ban
the oppressive laws.
From there, we will go around the world and high-
light Christian women’s hardships. They often exist
as second-class citizens in their cultures because
they are women. But add “Christian” to their status,
and they drop to the bottom of society in cultures
hostile to Christianity.
And that’s where you and I come in. When Christian
women are kicked to the curb by their radical Mus-
lim husbands for turning to Christ, we are their safe-
ty net. When their Christian husbands are murdered
for their faith or thrown into prison, we rescue the Jeff King, President
family. International Christian Concern
Author: The Last Words of the Martyrs and
Islam Uncensored

P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 3
 Your Hands and Feet
I C C P R O J E C T S M A D E P O S S I B L E BY S U P P O R T E R S

Sharing
the Gospel
to the
Ends of
the Earth.
AFRICA

Nurturing a Network
of Churches
G O S P E L: B I B L E S & B R O A D C A S T S

Solomon is an evangelist who focuses on reaching and discipling

Muslims in an ocean-side city in Tanzania. Solomon helped
start 14 churches and small groups in the region with several
underground believers.

ICC provided him with a motorbike to be able to travel to the

many churches and groups he disciples.

“I would like to thank God for blessing me with the gift of this
motorbike. In fact, this transport has been very much needed in
the ministry here, that is, the people who have accepted Jesus as
Lord and Savior in their lives,” Solomon said. “This motorbike has
come to relieve the difficulty of traveling to the many villages.”

4 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
 MIDDLE EAST

In Times of War
R E S C U E: W I V E S & K I D S
Marie, her husband, and two sons live in a one-bedroom hostel far
away from the home they once knew. The war against Christians in
Artsakh drove them out of their home. They do what they can to
make the best of their new living situation.

The bedroom hostel was not designed for long-term living. Marie
keeps all her food in boxes since there is no cupboard in the kitchen.
They have a closet, but it is not enough for four of them, so their
clothes are stored on what little floor space they have.

ICC helped the family by supplying kitchen cupboards and a wardrobe

to make things more comfortable while their future remains a
mystery.

SOUTH ASIA

Laborers in the Harvest

G O S P E L: B I B L E S & B R O A D C A S T S

Many pastors in India possess tremendous enthusiasm to share

the gospel to the ends of the earth. However, they often lack the
resources to do so.

One of ICC’s flagship projects for the past few years is Bikes
and Bibles, an initiative to empower and equip 1,000 church
planters to reach rural India. ICC supplies a bicycle and 100 New
Testaments to each church planter.

In 2022, we concluded our ninth phase of this project, where we

supplied 98 rural church planters across seven states. In total,
we’ve equipped 1,383 pastors. Many of these church planters
serve in difficult areas where preaching the gospel invites
harassment and threats from Hindu radicals. In the last nine
years, since the pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed
power, religious minority persecution has more than tripled.

P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 5
 ICC Newsroom
YOUR SOURCE FOR PERSECUTION NEWS

Anti-Christian
Riots in India Surge
Across 20 Villages
R
adical Hindu nationalists attacked Christians in
20 villages in the Narayanpur and Kondagaon
districts in the Chhattisgarh state of India for
refusing to re-convert from Christianity to Hinduism.

“These incidents have shocked the entire Christian

community in the state, and the sad thing is that the
people in authority did not bother to help,” said a local
church leader.

The attacks took place on Sunday, Dec. 18, as

Christians gathered for worship. The attackers looted
and destroyed the homes of many Christians and
desecrated three churches. Several people were
severely injured and hospitalized while others fled to
the jungle or nearby police stations.

Dozens of Christians Killed or

Abducted by Extremists in Nigeria
On Christmas Day, Fulani militants attacked an Angwan Aku
Village church in Kaduna state, in northern Nigeria.

“The church worship service was about to commence when

the attackers arrived at the village riding on motorbikes
and shooting sporadically,” a resident said. “They killed one
Christian and kidnapped 53 other Christians who are still
held captive.”

Please pray for the families of Christians whom the violent

Fulani militants have murdered and the safe return of those
whom they have kidnapped.

6 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
HEAD TO OUR WEBSITE, PERSECUTION.ORG, FOR THE LATEST NEWS

Christian
Genocide Warning
in Artsakh
On Monday, Dec. 12, Azerbaijan
started a blockade on the roads
connecting Nagorno-Karabakh
(Armenian: Artsakh) to all outside
resources. This is the second time
they have done this in the past
month, and it is crippling for the
Armenian people, as “the road
known as Lachin Corridor is the only
road connecting Karabakh to the
outside world,” according to Lilit
Shahverdyan from the Eurasianet
news source.

Although Azerbaijan claims the

blockade of this road to be for
environmental reasons, this is
clearly a ruse to gain further
control over the people of Artsakh
and eventually finish the religious
BREAKING NEWS cleansing that they have been open
about working toward.

Church Bombing Kills 17 in the Congo

Suspected Allied Democratic Forces
(ADF) rebels detonated a homemade
improvised explosive device (IED), killing
at least 17 and injuring dozens more at
a church in Kasindi, Eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo, Sunday morning,
Jan. 15. Hundreds of Christians were
gathered for prayer and baptism when
the blast went off at 11 a.m.
“Limbs and other body parts are
scattered everywhere as more dead
bodies are being retrieved from the
rubble. Many people have been injured,
and they are being evacuated. We are
not able to ascertain how this attack
happened or how many Christians have
been killed, but I can confirm that this
is a gruesome terrorist attack,” he said.

One of the first responders, a pastor of

a nearby church, reported the attack to
ICC.

India’s Supreme Court Affirms Religious Freedom

The Supreme Court of India affirmed the religious freedom rights of Indian citizens
by rejecting a petition calling for a nationwide law against religious conversion. In
making its decision, the Court stated that persons above the age of 18 in India are
free to choose the religion of their choice.

P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 7
 L E S S O N S F R O M
P E R S E C U T E D W O M E N

The Bravest

Women We Know B Y H A N N A H C A M P B E L L

8 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
 I
t’s the mother just kidnapped alongside her
toddler, fighting to make it out alive who
teaches us determination. It’s the daughter
whose parents were murdered by a suicide
bomber in the foyer of her home, right in front
of her, who teaches us courage. It’s the wife,
whose husband was killed by radical Islamic
militants for his faith who teaches us to rely
on our strength in the Lord. It’s the sister who
dreams of becoming a surgeon and helping
the persecuted and pursues her education,
who teaches us the power the next generation
possesses. And it’s the orphaned baby whose
community takes her in their loving arms to
raise her who inspires hope.
These are the stories and the lessons from
persecuted Christian women around the
world. They are some of the most courageous
and resilient humans you will encounter, and
their grit is stronger than that of a pearl.
We find her worshiping in the midst of
unimaginable grief and despair, with tears
in her eyes and arms lifted high. She is the
backbone of her family, her church, and her
Christian community. In the darkest corners of
the world, her light shines bright.
A COMPLEX REALITY
It’s often easy to think of persecution in its
most blatant form; instances that are visible
and severe, like beatings or murders. The
A W O M A N
Photo: Miguel Bruna / Unsplash
T H E L O R D
P R A I S E D .
target for these types of attacks are mainly
Christian men.
For centuries, however, women of faith
have experienced complex and often hidden
persecution from their culture and extremists.
And for more than two decades, ICC has
served suffering Christians at the front lines of
persecution ministry.
BRINGING INJUSTICE TO LIGHT
But lately, we’ve seen courageous women
bring to light injustices in Iran after the death of
Mahsa Amini. Her death and the circumstances
surrounding it sparked a nationwide protest
with Iranians from all ethnic and religious
backgrounds taking to the streets.
Women have been the central leaders of the
protest with nothing to lose and everything to
gain.
GOD IS AT WORK
Throughout the Bible, God placed women in
strategic locations to carry out His will and to
bring peace and justice into this world. Some
He gave positions of authority and power, while
others, He humbled to the lowest positions of
society: all to be elevated for His glory.
And God is writing that same story today
through the brave, humble, and strong women
who bring the light of Christ to the darkest
corners of the world.
W H O F E A R S
I S T O B E
Proverbs 31:30
P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 9
Cutting
Through the
Silence
By Joseph Daniel, ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East

10 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
 DECADES OF
PERSECUTION
AND
OPPRESSION
C ATA P U LT E D
A MOVEMENT
TOWA R D
FREEDOM.

S
imply the mention of Iran in
the international media evokes
a certain level of controversy
and alarm. But how did the Middle
East’s second-largest nation go
from an Islamic revolution to an
unprecedented protest movement?
And how did its Christians go from a
small, persecuted minority to one of
the world’s fastest-growing churches
today?
PERSECUTION IN IRAN
When the Iranian revolutionaries led
by Ayatollah Khomeini seized power
in 1979, they immediately pushed
to rid the country of any foreign
Christian elements, ending all formal
Photo: Craig Melville / Unsplash

foreign missionary efforts. Ethnic

Christian groups inside Iran, such as
Armenian and Assyrian churches,
were offered some protection and
recognition predicated on their
support for the new government.
However, starting in the 1990s,
another group of Christians in Iran
have emerged consisting of Iranian
converts from Islam through a rapidly
growing “house-church” movement.

P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 11
12 Persecution | M A R C H 2023

An independent survey in 2020 revealed an
estimation of close to a million Christians in
Iran today with most of them being converts.
This incredible growth is occurring despite
the intense persecution Christians continue
to live under. The regime attempts to publicly
silence Christians’ faith. All Farsi Bibles and
Christian literature are banned; sharing one’s
faith with others is outlawed; Christian groups
are constantly monitored by authorities,
and pastors have consistently been arrested,
interrogated, and imprisoned.
Dabira Bet Tabriz, a leading voice around
the world for religious freedom in Iran since
her own Assyrian-Iranian family suffered
immense persecution for their leadership in
Faris-speaking church activities, shared in an
interview with ICC what it is like to live as a
Christian in Iran.
“If you are an Evangelical, a Protestant, you
are considered a Zionist, a terrorist; you have
no right to practice your belief, to assemble
within a church. You have no right to worship,
and this is [speaking of] mainly of Assyrians and
Armenians. However, converts are the largest
Christian group in the country, but they are not
a recognized religious minority and have no
right to freedom [in Iran].”
She further shared that most converts are
women which exposes them to additional
discrimination and abuses, with reports of
the government employing humiliating and
inhumane interrogation and psychological
torture techniques against Christian prisoners.
“WOMEN, LIFE, LIBERTY”
In September 2022, a 22-year-old Kurdish-
Iranian woman named Mahsa Amini visited
family members in Tehran, the capital city of
Iran. The notorious morality police arrested
her under charges of not properly wearing the
hijab, the Muslim headscarf. While detained,
the morality police reportedly brutally tortured
Mahsa who fell into a coma and died 3 days
later. This tragic incident sparked a nationwide
protest movement with Iranians from all ethnic
Y O U
and religious backgrounds taking to the streets
A S
in dozens of Iranian cities.
While most street-level protests are not new
in Iran, previous protests would only last a
few weeks before being ended by authorities.
However, these recent protests have continued
T I M E
R O Y A L
for months with estimations of 500 protestors
T H A T
killed, including several “fast-track” trials
leading to executions of protestors charged
with “waging a war on God” for their activities
during the protests.
Women, especially young women and even
children, have courageously been central
leaders of the protests with a strong sense that
A
they have nothing to lose and eventually their
B U T
freedom to gain.
Y O U R
S U C H
In solidarity with Mahsa Amini, the foundational
slogan from the beginning of the protests
has been “Women, Life, Liberty,” illustrating
the nationwide, united frustration with the
authoritarian regime’s oppressive system of
dictating the everyday lives of women, brutally
killing dissidents, and depriving its citizens
K N O W S
of the freedom to determine their own life
decisions. T O
F O R
HOPE FOR IRAN
T H I S ? Esther 4:14 (NIV)
Dabrina further shared with ICC, that
considering the decades of persecution and
oppression as well as all the events of the
C O M E
past few months, “We are hopeful that this
regime will change. We are hopeful that they
are breathing their last breath. We don’t know
P O S I T I O N
W H O
when. But this is our hope, our prayer, our fight.
But as believers, we have a different hope,
a bigger point of view, a different strength to
carry on.”
Christians suffering persecution for so long are
raising their voices in union with their fellow
H A V E
Iranians for freedom, peace, and justice in their
nation. The Iranian regime’s long history of
A N D
efforts to brutally silence the spread of the hope
of the gospel has failed, and in such tumultuous
times as this, that hope desperately needs to
shine more brightly than ever for the people of
Iran.
P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 13
 My Christ Cannot
Fail Me

14
 I C C C O M E S A L O N G S I D E A M OT H E R W H O WA S
KICKED TO THE CURB BY HER MUSLIM HUSBAND.
W
omen who grow up in a Muslim household are
often at the mercy of the men they are married off
to. They typically lack the education and resources
to make it on their own as single women due to cultural
norms and standards.
Many Muslim women who come to faith in Christ are faced
with the painful decision to share their faith and risk losing
everything or stay underground and live an outward lie. And
to add to the pressure, these women are often mothers, and
their marriage provides their children with the support and
security they need to thrive.
Jane was 26 years old when she was married. Her husband
treated her well for the first eight years until he married two
more women and began to severely mistreat her.
The situation steadily worsened over the next five years,
culminating in her husband’s refusal to pay for the basic
needs of Jane and her children in 2020. Desperate for a
source of income to cover her children’s food, clothes, and
school fees, Jane attempted to start her own business.
However, it ultimately failed due to a lack of starting capital.
For two years, she and her children continued to struggle
greatly. Her husband still allowed them to live in his home,
but his constant abuse made their lives miserable.
In May 2022, Christian preachers came to her town and
shared the gospel with her. They told her to cast her burdens
onto Jesus, and at that moment, Jane decided to trust in
Jesus and became a Christian.
“After receiving Christ, I went back home and told my
husband. The only answer I received from him was that he
should not find me at the house when he returned from
WHEN WOMEN ARE DEEMED WORTHLESS
Photo: Sheha Sirarajan / Unsplash
Women’s bodies have become a second battlefield, and
perpetrators weaponize sexual violence to further their
power and agenda. Sexual violence infiltrates nearly every
culture in the world to some degree, and Christian women
who are minorities are more prone to this type of persecution.
It is a means of control, power, and dominance to establish
Christian women as inferior, weak, and helpless.
In many societies, a women’s sexual purity equates to her
Muslim prayers, but I thought it was a joke,” Jane said.
“When he returned home, he asked me if I had become a
Christian. I said yes, but before I could finish speaking, he
slapped my face and pulled me out of bed. He pushed me
outside the house and started throwing my things after me.
He went back inside, woke up my four kids, and told them
to go outside with their stupid mother who had decided to
become a Christian.”
He told them mockingly, “Let her take you to her Jesus.”
Jane and her children spent the night outside, not knowing
what to do next.
“He said he would accept us again only if I denied Christ and
returned to his religion. I could not do that because I knew
the Christ I received could not fail me,” Jane said.
Jane and her children ended up staying at a Christian friend’s
house temporarily but they then pressured her to leave after
a few weeks.”
An ICC staff member heard about Jane’s situation and in
September 2022, ICC sent her the funds to rent and stock a
retail shop with a house attached. It was the startup capital
she previously lacked.
In response, Jane said, “I thank God for this shop. My
salvation is not in vain now because God has done it for me.
I am so excited that I have received my dream. I have desired
to own my shop for years, and now I have one. My life will
change with this shop, and I will do my best to make it work
no matter what.”
ICC equips dozens of women around the world every year
who have been kicked to the curb because they chose to
speak up about their faith.
worth. The loss of that purity brings dishonor to herself and
her family and leaves her an outcast in her community. In
some countries, radical Muslim men weaponize that to force
marriage and conversion. To compound the shame, they
often blame the women for the violence brought against
them.
ICC seeks to rescue the girls who have been cornered into
marriage and to restore dignity to all those who have been
dehumanized because of their gender and religion.
P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 15
 A Captive Generation
K I D N A P P E D C H R I S T I A N G I R L S A R E F O R C E D TO
R A I S E T H E N E X T G E N E R AT I O N O F T E R R O R I S T S
T
he focal point for the Christmas Day service was
supposed to be about the birth of our Lord and
Savior. But the morning quickly took a turn for the
worse when radical Fulani militants stormed the service
with echoes of gunshots and screams in Angwan Aku
Village in Kaduna state.
“The church worship service was about to commence
when the attackers arrived at the village riding on
motorbikes and shooting sporadically,” a resident who
witnessed the attack said.
Fulani militants killed one Christian and kidnapped 53
other Christians who, at the time of writing this article,
are still held captive.
“Family life has been disrupted; the lucky survivors have
become refugees in their land waiting for palliatives in
an endless genocide they can’t understand,” continued
the witness. “Mass graves litter the community and
countryside. Our people can no longer go to their farms
for fear of being gunned down or macheted.”
TARGET ON THEIR BACKS
The fear of Fulani militants runs deep in many northern
Nigerian villages. The attackers are ruthless and will
16 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
destroy property, kidnap indiscriminately, and kill anyone
they deem.
Christian women, especially Christian girls, have a
tremendous target on their backs. Terrorists, like the Fulani
militants and Boko Haram, target schools and villages and
kidnap young girls to convert to Islam. Women are viewed
as the source of the next generation – those who birth and
care for the children in the community. Because of this,
they are kidnapped, converted to Islam, and sold as brides
for militant leaders to use to raise their own generation.
Their one evil goal is to stop Christianity at its source.
MOTHER TAKES A STAND
Fulani militants attempted to rape a 16-year-old Christian
girl one morning while she was walking with her mother
to their farmland in Nkiendonwro village, roughly 20 miles
from Jos, the capital of Plateau state.
An ICC contact visited the family after the attack and spoke
with the victims. “They told us to stop,” said the girl’s
mother. “Then the Fulani [militants] beat me and injured
me… I was trying to stop them from raping my daughter.”
As she spoke, the mother kept her arm raised, revealing a
deep gash she suffered from the militants.
Above: A mother receives aid to send her daughter to
school after she saved her daughter from an attempt-
ed rape by Fulani militants.
The woman explained that the Fulani militants had seized
her land and burned down her house in 2017, forcing her
and her family to move closer to the city for their safety. No
longer having their farmland has caused the family of seven
to fall into deep poverty, where they currently live and sleep
in a one-room home.
ICC INTERVENES
ICC’s contact in Nigeria did not speak to the minor, as she was
traumatized and crying throughout the visit. The mother said
God used her to protect her daughter from public disgrace
and shame, which is often how victims of rape are viewed in
their society.
“I have nothing to say but thank God,” said the mother.
“Please tell Christians to pray for me and my daughter. Pray
that we will return to our village one day because life is too
expensive for us in the city.”
Nkiendonwro village was deserted in 2017 after 29 Christians
were killed by Fulani militants in a classroom massacre. Since
then, the militants have occupied the land, and Christians
don’t have access to their farms and homes despite a series of
peace meetings with the Fulani leaders. Out of desperation,
many villagers try to return to their farmlands to retrieve
resources, such as firewood, for survival.
ICC helped the family with financial assistance and provided
housing and a small business startup.
FORCED TO FIT A MOLD
ICC conducted trauma training session for Generation
Transformation students last year.
The girls shared the gender inequalities they faced in their
own families. “Parents impose unnecessary restrictions on
us. Our parents start looking for our matches for marriages
instead of focusing on our careers. They prefer if the match is
from any foreign country or aged with wealth, as they want
to secure other siblings’ career at the cost of our choice,” one
girl explained.
“If we succeed in achieving our goals—getting higher
education—then we start facing resistance from our relatives
and in-laws who don’t want girls and women to continue
with their jobs. They want us to focus on establishing families
and showing a servitude attitude,” said another girl.
“Parents and brothers keep us under pressure and impose
their decisions on selection of careers,” she continued. “They
ignore our basic human rights and restrict our mobility,
freedom of choice, and decision-making power which is one
of the factors of our identity crises.”
Generation Transformation seeks to empower students to
break generational cycles of persecution through the power
of education.
P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 17
 Human Trafficking and
Religious Persecution
BY ICC FELLOW LINDA BURKLE, PHD
T
hroughout my professional career, I
have had the privilege and challenge
of directly working with victims of
human trafficking as well as administering
programs to assist them. The experience
of working with both the justice and social
service systems has exposed me to some
of the most vulnerable cases of human
trafficking, including an eleven-year-old
with a six-month-old infant who was
trafficked by her mother, a woman who was
fleeing from her pimp who had previously
branded her, and a young woman whose
husband convinced her that she would
show her love for him by prostituting
herself and bringing him the money.
In these and many other tragic situations,
the trafficker exercised complete control
over the victim through threats, physical
abuse, deception, deprivation, and
psychological manipulation. Unfortunately,
these characteristics are far too common in
all forms of human trafficking.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING DEFINED
From the 1970s to the 1990s, before the
term “human trafficking” was coined and
understood, the victims of trafficking were
often perceived as a criminal committing
the crime of prostitution and adjudicated
accordingly. This tragically meant that the
“victim” was penalized, and the trafficker
typically faced minimal consequences. It
wasn’t until the early 2000s that the world
recognized the term “human trafficking”
18 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
and acknowledged it as a global problem
involving the enslavement of people for
exploitation or profit.
In 2000, the UN General Assembly formally
developed and adopted the definition of
human trafficking at the UN Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime
(the Palermo Convention). The trafficking
of persons was officially defined as “the
recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harboring or receipt of persons, by means
of threat or use of force or other means
of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of
deception, of the abuse of power or of a
position of vulnerability.” The definition
also recognized that “…exploitation shall
include, at a minimum, the exploitation of
the prostitution of others or other forms of
sexual exploitation, forced labor or services,
slavery, or practices similar to slavery,
servitude, or the removal of organs.” As of
May 2020, 178 countries have ratified the
Trafficking Protocol.
In the same year, modeled after the UN
document, the U.S. government enacted
the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of
2000 (TVPA), which serves as the national
framework for the federal response to
human trafficking.
SCOPE OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Human trafficking is modern-day slavery,
generating over $150 billion annually,
slightly eclipsed only by the trafficking
of drugs and weapons. The trafficking
of human beings is uniquely profitable,
however, because they can be sold multiple
times. According to the International
Labour Organization, “40.3 million people
are in modern-day slavery, including 24.9
million who are in forced labor and 15.4
million in forced marriage.”
A few statistics on human trafficking show
that:
There are 5.4 victims of modern-day slavery
for every 1,000 people in the world.
Children make up 1 in every 4 victims of
modern-day slavery.
Out of the 24.9 million people trapped
in forced labor, 16 million people are
exploited in the private sector, such as
through domestic work, construction,
or agriculture; 4.8 million people are in
forced sexual exploitation, and 4 million
are in forced labor imposed by the state
authorities.
Women and girls are disproportionately
affected by forced labor, accounting for
99% of victims in the commercial sex
industry and 58% in other sectors.
THE INTERSECTION OF RELIGIOUS
PERSECUTION AND HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
Per the report referenced above, forced
labor, sexual exploitation, and forced
marriage are the primary reasons
people are trafficked. While 30% of labor

trafficking is committed by state actors,
sexual exploitation and forced marriage are
often the results of a society or culture in
which the government may be complicit,
reluctant, or ineffective in protecting
marginalized and vulnerable populations,
such as persecuted Christians. One report
estimates, “In the 50 countries with the
highest level of Christian persecution,
forced marriages of women have increased
by 16 percent.”
Whereas a primary motivator in the human
trafficking industry is profit, trafficking in the
context of religious persecution is uniquely
different. While there may be economic
benefits to trafficking Christians and other
religious minorities, the driving motivators
are religious and cultural. In addition,
perpetrators often use the trafficking
of Christians as a weapon of war and
domination to undermine and destroy the
presence of religious minorities in a specific
geographic region. Thus, human trafficking,
and predominately sex trafficking, are
primary tools for persecution, although
profit may be a secondary factor.
Photo: Mickael Gresset / Unsplash
One report on gender-based persecution
found that Christian women and girls
are most adversely impacted among
the countries listed on the World Watch
List (WWL), a ranking list of the top fifty
countries where it is most challenging
to be a Christian. Of the countries on the
WWL, at least 90% reported cases of forced
marriage, and 86% reported sexual violence
as the key instrument for persecution.
The report also identified forced marriage,
sexual violence, physical violence,
psychological violence, and forced divorce
as the five most common “pressure points”
for religious persecution against women
in WWL countries. In addition, the report
found that each category had increased
since the previous year’s study, showing
that “…the rise in psychological violence
mostly affects women and girls, who often
live in fear of attacks or struggle to move on
from the trauma of past physical and sexual
assaults.
“Women are also primarily impacted by the
rise in human trafficking, although bonded
labor and trafficking continue to affect men
and boys too. Sexual violence and forced
marriage are used as tools of shame,
coercion, and control, primarily against
Christian women and girls because of the
strong association of sexual purity with the
honor of a family or community.”
Additionally, reports of psychological
violence among women in these countries
rose from 40% to 74% from the 2020 report
to the 2021 report. Forced marriages
increased by 16%, and physical violence
increased by 20%. The report also found
that forced marriage is most prevalent
in Africa (4.8 per 1000), while the most
significant number of victims are in the Asia
and Pacific regions, accounting for 73% of
victims of forced sexual exploitation.
ICC FELLOWS
Some more examples of the intersection
between Christian persecution and the
treatment of women and girls include:
In India, Christian girls are considered “less
than” in a stratified Hindu society. They are
poor and vulnerable to being abducted or
tricked with offers of jobs and a better life.
Impoverished Pakistan Christian girls are
often lured into marrying Chinese men with
promises of security and provision. Young
Chinese men, who are disproportionately
overrepresented in the population
due to the failed one-child policy that
heavily favored males, fuel the lucrative
international bride trafficking business.
In Nigeria, Islamic terrorists continue to
abduct Christian girls despite international
condemnation of the 2014 kidnapping
of Chibok school girls. Most criticize the
Nigerian government for not doing enough
to rescue the victims and bring the traffickers
to justice. Much to the ire of Nigerians and
the international community, some officials
have even referred to identified traffickers
(captors) as “husbands” of abducted and
released girls.
As we pray for our persecuted brothers and
sisters around the world, we also pray for
the victims of human trafficking – they are
often the same.
*Source: Global Estimates of Modern
Slavery: Forced Labor and Forced Marriage,
Geneva, September 2017
P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 19
20 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
 On the Ground
P E R S E C U T I O N A S A C H R I S T I A N W O M A N I N PA K I S TA N

We interviewed one of our staff members based in Pakistan to get her

personal experience dealing with the dynamics of her faith and gender in the
fundamentalist Islamic country.

This is our conversation:

People in the west often have a view that Pakistan and other Islamic
countries create suffocating cultures for women, especially Christian
women. What has your experience been as a Christian woman living in an
Islamic country?

As a Christian woman living in Pakistan, I feel that there is a certain judgment criterion that precedes my reputation.
A general label regarding the clothing choices of Christian females and how they are an easy target to be persuaded
and invaded for various reasons and purposes. There is always a false perception in the eyes of others in society
that Christian females are liable to be explored in relationships as Christian females have several liberties to exist
within the environment more than Muslim women.

The Christian community faces discrimination in all aspects of life based on their religion, and the discrimination
is supported by the constitution, law, and policies designed by the state. Women are the marginalized segment of
society and being a minority woman is being double jeopardized.

I faced discrimination at my university while studying at a private university in Lahore. Being the only Christian
student in the electrical engineering department, I faced a lot of discrimination. A teacher deliberately used to give
me an “F” grade because of my faith, and I repeated that course three times during the tenure of that teacher,
failing to secure a grade other than “F.” However, I managed to get an “A” as soon as the teacher was replaced.
Photo: Shiza Nazir / Unsplash

P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 21
 Have there been situations you’ve found yourself in that have caused you
to fear for your safety because of your faith? If so, could you describe one
of those events?

The moment I learned the gravity of my faith being a danger to my safety was when Salman Taseer was murdered
due to taking a stance for Asia Bibi. A nationwide holiday was announced 12 years ago on the 5th of January for
national mourning for him.

In this nationwide holiday, we learned to mask our true feelings for the case of Asia Bibi and to behave ourselves
in college by not taking part in any discussions. Salman Taseer was a hero in our home, yet when I came to the
horizons of my college, I learned to comprehend the fact that Salman Taseer was a sinner who never deserved
a funeral just for the reason he spoke up for the rights of minorities in Pakistan. I was brought up in a Christian
institution, yet I felt scared in between the walls of that college, for in every corner, I could just listen to the
whispers of how my faith is condemnable theology.

There are so many events that I’ve experienced throughout my life where I’ve felt that my safety would be
jeopardized by my religious identity. On the day Asia Bibi got released, it was nationwide chaos for Christians. Many
of us couldn’t drive with the symbol of a crucifix in our cars; university students, even my sister, were exposed to
this incident of brutal torture.

What would you like people in the West, specifically other sisters in Christ, to
know about Christian women in Pakistan?

In most cases, Christian women in Pakistan are the breadwinners in their households. They are the ones facilitating
and providing for their families, and most of these Christian women are nurses. Christian women in Pakistan are
brave and bold enough to be the witness and source of the true gospel in their workplace and their groups through
their living example. They are sharing Christianity rather boldly through their conduct and demeanor. They are
ambassadors of Christ in the Muslim community of Pakistan.

22 Persecution | M A R C H 2023
1 Chronicles 16:11
S E E K T H E
L O R D A N D H I S
S T R E N G T H ,
S E E K H I S F A C E
C O N T I N U A L L Y .

Has working for ICC changed the way you view Christians in your own
country? If so, in what ways?

Working with ICC has become my passion. Reaching out to the vulnerable and weak groups of society makes me
feel good and at least useful and productive. ICC is contributing to the empowerment of the Christian community
of Pakistan. Strengthening them to have education is the most needed and productive way to strengthen the
community.

ICC has provided me an opportunity to interact with the youth that I have found to have the potential to thrive
through the odds. They, despite discrimination, are inching toward their goals. And I think ICC has increased their
pace.

If you could change anything about Pakistan, what would you hope would
change?

I wish my country should be a secular state as declared by the father of the nation Jinha in 1947. It would pave the
way to building a tolerant and pluralistic society.

I hope to change the biased laws in the legislation of Pakistan.

I would turn the law to eliminate the rule of blasphemy that has been a torturous way to punish Christians in our
community. This law has been used to falsely accuse victims just for executing judgment for personal grudges.

P E R S E C U T I O N.O R G 23
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