The interim report on persecution from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office is grim reading. It reinforces over 25 years of World Watch List research and is long overdue.
It shows that many countries are denying their citizens the fundamental human right of freedom of religion or belief despite being signed up to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Open Doors urges the UK government to use its influence to exert pressure so that governments around the world make fundamental policy changes to ensure that Christians and other religious minorities are free to follow the faith of their choice.
The recent attacks on churches in Sri Lanka show that change is needed urgently. The UK government needs to work with religious leaders who stay serving in the most dangerous places.
It needs to recognise, as the report shows, that vulnerabilities around faith and religion are as important as vulnerabilities around gender, ethnicity, disability or age.
As recently as Monday this week, armed Boko Haram members attacked the Christian community of Kuda, near Madagali in Nigeria's Adamawa state. That evening they went from door to door, killing at least 25 people.
They returned the following day as the community, supported by security agents, prepared to bury their dead. The funeral preparations were abandoned and the bereaved fled. Many more also fled the town."
This review is particularly timely. This Easter, Prince Charles, the Prime Minister, Jeremy Corbyn, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of Westminster have all denounced the persecution of Christians.
Enough is enough – it is time the world woke up to the fact that persecution is happening every day. Everyone, no matter what their faith, should be free to worship without fear.
Henrietta Blyth is CEO of Open Doors UK and Ireland
