Biden's retreat from the noble and necessary fight to protect victims of religious persecution in Nigeria

Statement

Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), author of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, said the Biden Administration's decision to remove Nigeria from the list of countries that violate religious freedom was "totally unjustified" and "a retreat from the noble and necessary fight to protect victims of religious persecution."

On November 15, the U.S. State Department released its annual "Countries of Particular Concern" and Nigeria was removed from the list.

Genocide Watch has called Nigeria a "killing field of defenseless Christians."

Open Doors, a religious freedom watchdog, ranked Nigeria the world's ninth most serious violator of religious freedom, stating that more Christians die for their faith in Nigeria than in any other country.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) strongly criticized President Biden's reversal and said it was "unexplainable that the U.S. Department of State did not redesignate Nigeria as a "Country of Particular Concern" (CPC) and treated it as a country with no severe religious freedom violations. In December 2020, the U.S. Department of State designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC)… due to systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom. Violent attacks by Boko Haram and ethno-religious conflict have become more frequent..."

Smith, the former Chairman and current Ranking Member of the Africa, Global Health and Global Human Rights Committee, has chaired multiple hearings on what is unfolding in Nigeria featuring policy experts offering diverse voices.

"I couldn't be more disappointed in Secretary Blinken," said Smith, who also serves as Co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. "You can't give President Buhari a passing grade when he has utterly failed to protect religious freedom, including and especially that of Christians. A core principle of any robust democracy is respect for human rights, including religious freedom."

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