Eduardo González
The PP Parliamentary Group has urged the Government to “strengthen Spanish diplomatic action in defense of religious freedom and persecuted Christian communities” worldwide and to make this issue “a priority in foreign policy, international cooperation, and within the framework of the European Union.”
In a non-binding motion registered in early November for debate in the Foreign Affairs Committee, the People’s Party (PP) parliamentary group denounces that the right to religious freedom “continues to be systematically violated in too many parts of the world” and that “almost two-thirds of the world’s population live in countries with serious violations of religious freedom.”
According to the ‘Religious Freedom in the World 2025 Report’ by the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need, religious freedom suffers “serious violations” in 62 countries, and in 24 of them, “there is persecution with serious and systematic violations affecting a total of 4.1 billion people in countries such as China, India, Nigeria, and North Korea.” “In the other 38 countries, the population is exposed to discrimination on religious grounds, which could affect more than 1.3 billion people,” it adds.
“Christians today constitute one of the most persecuted religious communities globally,” the PP asserts. This is according to the World Watch List report. The 2024 report from Open Doors states that “more than 365 million Christians suffer high levels of persecution, which is equivalent to one in seven Christians worldwide.” Furthermore, according to the report, in just twelve months, “4,998 murders were recorded because of the Christian faith,” and “of all those murders, more than 80% occurred in Nigeria, which maintains this country as the deadliest in the world for Christians.”
In Nigeria, the text asserts, terrorist organizations, such as Boko Haram and the Islamic State in West Africa, have perpetrated indiscriminate attacks against churches, Christian villages, and religious leaders, “causing thousands of deaths and mass displacements.” “An example of this massacre is the more than 1,300 people killed in Plateau alone between December 2023 and February 2024, according to Amnesty International,” it recalls.
In addition, “in Pakistan, abusive blasphemy laws are used to justify “Attacks, lynchings, and unjust imprisonments against Christians” and “in India, campaigns of violence and exclusion against Christian communities have intensified, with churches burned and worshippers attacked.” In Syria, the PP continues, “the Christian population has practically disappeared,” with “neighborhoods and churches devastated,” and “in North Korea, the practice of Christianity continues to be punished with forced labor or even the death penalty.”
“The persecution of Christians is not limited to one continent,” since “it extends across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, where ancient communities, such as those in Iraq and Syria, have been practically annihilated in the last decade,” the Popular Group denounces. “All of this constitutes a true humanitarian and cultural tragedy, since the disappearance of Christians in these regions represents, in addition to a violation of Human Rights, the loss of an essential part of universal history,” it warns.
For all these reasons, the PP urges the Government to “strengthen Spanish diplomatic action in defense of religious freedom and Christian communities.” persecuted, placing this issue as a priority in foreign policy, international cooperation, and within the framework of the European Union,” and to “promote in the Council of Europe, the European Union, and the United Nations the production of reports and strong resolutions condemning the massacres and persecution of Christians, promoting the recognition of these acts as serious human rights violations or crimes against humanity.”
It also calls for “the creation of international mechanisms for investigation and justice to document, prosecute, and punish those responsible for attacks, massacres, and crimes committed against Christian communities worldwide” and the promotion of “awareness and education campaigns in Spain and throughout Europe to raise awareness about the situation of persecuted Christians,” fostering “a culture of freedom, respect, and tolerance toward all religious denominations.”
The PP also urges the government to “defend the inclusion of religious freedom and the protection of Christian minorities as a condition in EU and Spanish international agreements with third countries, linking the cooperation and bilateral relations with respect for the effective respect of human rights.”