RELIGIOUS FREEDOM is violated severely in one out of every three countries. In the last two years, the fundamental right to freedom of belief was not respected in 62 of the world’s 196 countries: that’s 67 percent of the world’s population, or 5.2 billion people.
The countries that exhibit grave violations of religious freedom include China, India and Pakistan, three of the world’s most populous countries. And Christians are most often targeted by persecution.
These are among the key findings of the 2021 Religious Freedom in the World report.
Many of the countries showing up in the report for the first time are in Africa, especially in Sub-Saharan and Eastern parts of the continent where there has been a dramatic increase in the presence of jihadist militia.
Violations of religious freedom—including extreme persecution such as mass killings—are now occurring in 42 percent of African countries.
The report also reveals a rise of transnational Islamist networks stretching from Mali to Mozambique in Sub-Saharan Africa, to the Comoros in the Indian Ocean, and to the Philippines in the South China Sea, with the aim of establishing a “transcontinental caliphate.”
The report highlights another new trend: the use of facial recognition technology to increase control and discrimination of religious minorities.