In 2019, the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed August 22 as the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. For the past five years, the international foundation ACN has also adopted and marked this day through its 23 national offices in different countries.
The situation has, however, worsened in the past years. The growth of international religion-based terrorism combined with the alarming trend of attacking religious buildings and symbols is spreading in various countries, not only in Africa, Asia and Latin America, but also in the US and now in Europe.
“Ever-present news about acts of violence and harassment based on religion in countries such as Pakistan, India, Nigeria, Mozambique and Haiti continue to give ACN great cause for concern. Although social and ethnic motives are often involved, we cannot close our eyes to this reality,” Stephen Axisa, the director of the Malta office of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), said.
ACN is drawing particular attention to the imminent dangers facing the African continent with the rapid spread of Islamist militant groups. ACN is calling on international organisations for a better coordinated and faster response to stop both the ongoing massacres, as well as the dispersion of millions of displaced people from their respective territories, as they seek some security for their lives. These terrorist groups are seeking to eliminate the cultural and religious plurality of the country, as they have done in other countries like Iraq.
“The effects of international religious-based terrorism are devastating, preventing the victims from exercising their fundamental human rights, and affecting their stability and security for generations long after the immediate danger seems to have passed,” Axisa said.
He referred to a persecuted Christian from Nigeria who was invited to Malta to speak about the reality of persecuted Christians in his country and was murdered only a couple of weeks after he returned there.
“His ‘crime’ was that he professed a faith that was different from the belief of a terrorist group in Nigeria,” Axisa said.
The effects of international religious-based terrorism are devastating, preventing the victims from exercising their fundamental human rights
Unchecked hatred against religious groups engenders violence and destruction, and should be publically repudiated, ACN says. Violence is never a solution and governments have an obligation to protect the victims and prosecute those who commit acts of violence.
The International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion is a milestone in the right direction, but ACN is aware the situation worldwide is not improving. It is thus encouraging the UN to take further steps to combat hate crimes and acts of religion-based violence.
“What can we practically do here in Malta?” the ACN Malta director asked. “Since 1947, ACN has been supporting displaced people and giving them hope for their future.”
Currently, ACN (Malta) is asking benefactors from Malta, Gozo and overseas to support worthwhile projects for such internally displaced people (IDPs). ACN wants these people to cultivate their culture in their own countries.
For this purpose, ACN develops suitable and much-needed projects that help these IDPs to remain in their own country by providing food, medicine, medical and psychological care, as well as tools and light machinery. In this way, these IDPs do not rely only on assistance but start earning their own living themselves after they have lost everything.
ACN is on the ground in some 140 countries, working hand in hand with local partners on more than 5,000 projects.
“While terrorist groups are destroying whole communities and creating martyrs, ACN is trying to reverse this trend, by offering tangible hope for hundreds of thousands of persons. In our reality, every euro donated counts,” Axisa noted.
For more information, call 2148 7818, 7999 9969 or e-mail info@acnmalta.org.
For emergency donations, go to www.acnmalta.org/donate/.