The United States has a responsibility to act to curtail extremist violence in Nigeria, religious freedom and human rights advocates from both countries said in a Capitol Hill briefing.
The June 5 event, sponsored by International Christian Concern (ICC), focused on a West African country that is by far the largest population-wise on the continent and is plagued by religious- and ethnic-based violence especially from Islamic forces. Among the 25 most populous countries in the world, Nigeria has the highest level of social hostilities, according to a 2017 study by the Pew Research Center. Nigeria ranks behind only Iraq and Afghanistan on the 2017 Global Terrorism Index produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace.
ICC’s Capitol Hill Policy Day followed by a week the release of the State Department’s annual report on global religious liberty. Sam Brownback, ambassador at large for international religious freedom, said in a May 29 news briefing significant progress has been made, “but for far too many, the state of religious freedom is dire. We have to work together to accomplish change.”
The world and the United States have a “moral obligation” regarding Nigeria, but it is also in their self-interest to alleviate the conflict, said Frank Wolf, a longtime advocate for international religious freedom as a congressman and now a distinguished senior fellow with the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. “This is doable. This is the moment. There is the interest.
“I think this issue can be solved as long as we’re not dictating to Nigeria” what it must do, Wolf…
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