This month, red light will bathe hundreds of cathedrals, churches, monuments and public buildings around the world as part of an international campaign to raise awareness on the persecution of Christians and the need for religious freedom.

According to this year’s Religious Freedom in the World Report, two-thirds of the world’s population live in countries where there are serious violations of religious freedom. The numbers are increasing  and such violations now occur, for example, in 42 per cent of all African countries with Burkina Faso and Mozambique being two striking cases.

This year, the #RedWeek campaign will put the spotlight on how girls and women from Christian and other faith minority backgrounds suffer abduction, forced marriage, forced conversion and sexual violence.

Thomas Heine-Geldern, executive president of ACN, says that the campaign is “sending a clear message of solidarity to persecuted Christians throughout the world”.  It is “a way to give a voice to our project partners – those who have been tragically marked by the consequences of persecution. For us, the free exercise of religion is one of the pillars of liberal democracy”.

Red Week is taking place this year from November 17 to November 24, starting in Austria with an event in St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, followed by other countries. A long list of buildings will be illuminated in red, among them the cathedrals of Montreal and Toronto in Canada, the basilica of Montmartre in Paris, and major buildings in Slovakia. In Australia, schools in six dioceses plan to wear red, while in Belgium people will light candles for persecuted Christians.

Across the world Christians will gather to pray for persecuted brothers and sisters, for the right of religious freedom and go to church for those who are unable to go themselves. In Malta, a special mass was celebrated on Monday at the Immaculate Conception church in Ħamrun.

The UK report ‘Hear her cries – The kidnapping, forced conversion and sexual victimisation of Christian women and girls’ will be presented in the UK Parliament at Westminster on November 24, and the Foreign and Commonwealth government building will be lit red.