The European Union was asked to support persecuted Christians

At the Open Doors summit in Brussels, the European Union was called upon to support persecuted Christians.

Every year, reports are published by Christian support organizations on the situation of Christians around the world. On the occasion of the publication of the annual report by the global Christian organization Open Doors on the situation of persecuted Christians, a meeting was held in the European Parliament on February 14, corresponding to February 25, with the presence of representatives from the Christian organization "Open Doors", the European Union Special Envoy for the Promotion and Protection of Religious Freedom, Christian activists from Yemen and Sudan, and representatives from the European Parliament in Brussels.

This year's reports focused on Sudan and Yemen, and Christian activists from the two countries spoke about the persecution of Christians in these countries and their resistance. In this year's list of the Open Doors organization, Yemen was ranked fifth, Sudan was ranked eighth, and Iran was ranked ninth among the ten most anti-Christian countries.

Last year's review included an Open Doors report in the European Parliament on Iran, at which a Christian pastor and activist, Dobrina Bettemers, spoke.

At this year's meeting, Miriam Legsman, a member of the European Parliament from Slovakia, opened the meeting. She emphasized the spread of anti-Christianity in the world and stated that Europe must be more and more explicit in supporting persecuted Christians.

Open Doors representatives Anastasia Hartmann and Christian Nani also attended the meeting and reported on the state of persecution of Christians around the world with statistics and figures. The Christian organization Open Doors, which has been supporting persecuted Christians since the 1950s, published reports last year that at least 365 million Christians have faced very real threats to their lives, livelihoods and churches because of their beliefs and beliefs, and at least 4,998 Christians have been killed worldwide because of their beliefs and beliefs.

Open Doors released a statement on the meeting on Thursday, February 15, titled “Challenging the European Union to Support Persecuted Christians in the Middle East and North Africa and Beyond.” The statement reads: “The audience at the European Parliament, made up of MEPs and their colleagues, European diplomats and people from non-governmental organizations based in Europe, heard stories of Christian converts in Muslim countries who had been persecuted by their governments and ostracized by their communities.”

Activists and citizens from Yemen and Sudan who had converted to Christianity also attended the meeting. They spoke about the persecution of Christians, the resilience of Christians in their countries, and the importance of the public duty in democratic countries to “give voice to the voiceless.” They emphasized that freedom of religion and belief is the right of everyone, including atheists, not just Christians.

François Van Dyck, the European Union's special envoy for the promotion and protection of religious freedom, also said at the meeting: "One of my priorities for my mission has been to open the door to negotiations with countries that want to talk."

Yasser Eric, a former radical Islamist who hated Jews and Christians and participated in attacks aimed at physically eliminating Christians, is now a bishop of the Anglican Church and was present at the annual meeting. He referred to his past at the meeting and said: "My uncle, who was a radical Islamist, became a Christian and his family rejected him. After I became a Christian, I was also imprisoned, rejected by my family and considered a dead person to my father and there is even an empty grave for me in our village." He spoke about his time in prison in Sudan and pointed out the importance of prayer in his life and for the persecuted church.

Another person from Yemen, Hassan al-Yemeni, was present at the meeting and, while referring to the dynamic presence of Christianity in Yemen before Islam, said: "Now many Yemenis have become Christians, and there are only house and secret churches in that country."

In addition to the above individuals, Kamal Fahmi, the founder of the Organization for the Defense of Freedom of Religion and Belief from Yemen, was also present in the European Parliament and stated: "We only demand simple and basic freedom, which is one of the fundamental human rights, namely freedom of thought, belief, and the right to change religion. Freedom to have or not have a religion and belief for all citizens."

In the question and answer session with the members of parliament, the representative of Article 18, while referring to the publication of the annual report last year by Open Doors, two other global Christian organizations, and Article 18, and the submission of proposals to the UN to support Iranian Christian refugees, asked the member of parliament a question about “whether there has been any change in the UN’s performance in this regard.” Anastasia Hartmann answered her question, saying: “It is not easy to assess the impact of the recommendations that Open Doors and three other Christian organizations have submitted to the UN at the moment; but we will continue our work at the UN and are ready to present specific recommendations to the European Union in the next report.”

Following Anastasia Hartmann's remarks, Kamal Fahmi stated: "At times and in places, people working at the United Nations discriminate against Christian converts, and efforts should be made to change this."

While pointing out the importance of supporting people imprisoned for their beliefs, he also emphasized the importance of changing laws in countries that violate freedom of belief, and continued by quoting Martin Luther King: "It is true that morality cannot be turned into law, but changing laws is to frame behavior and restrain ruthless people. Laws cannot make a person love me, but they can prevent him from killing me, and that is important to me."