News

U.S. Considers Conditioning Foreign Aid on Religious Freedom Grounds

November 20, 2019

This is a solid proposal for concrete action that could make a real difference for the world’s persecuted Christians. We see that Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world in the news items we post daily here at ChristianPersecution.com. What we do not see up to now is any sustained or concerted effort by government authorities or international human rights organizations to stop this persecution. This policy could change that. And change is urgently needed: there is no country in the world today that we can point to and say that while Christians were once persecuted there, now they live in safety and security. The international indifference to the persecution of Christians is a scandal of monstrous proportions.

Please continue to pray that the hearts of world leaders would be softened, and that they would finally be moved to act to end this scourge.

For previous ChristianPersecution.com coverage of the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and elsewhere, and the imminent disappearance of Christianity from some of its ancient strongholds, see here.

“U.S. Considers Conditioning Foreign Aid on Religious Freedom Grounds,” International Christian Concern, November 19, 2019:

11/19/2019 Washington, D.C. (International Christian Concern) – Two White House officials indicate that U.S. foreign assistance may become dependent on the state of religious freedom in the recipient country, according to recent reports by Politico. This potential development comes as the United States has taken an increasingly public stance against the abuse of religious minorities around the world, making the issue of religious persecution the primary policy issue pushed at the recent UN General Assembly, hosting consecutive Ministerials to Advance Religious Freedom in 2018 and 2019, and pledging $25 million to an international fund designed to protect religious minorities.

According to the Politico report, aides in the White House are drafting an executive order which would require that the United States condition its foreign humanitarian and development assistance on the treatment of religious minorities in the recipient country. It is not clear at this point whether military aid would be impacted by the executive order as well.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a U.S. government body dedicated to promoting religious freedom all around the world, issues an annual report on the state of religious freedom. In the report, USCIRF analyzes religious freedom on a country-by-country basis and ranks individual countries on a tiered system, with Tier 1 representing the most severe violators and Tier 2 representing countries with significant but less severe violations. It is the USCIRF annual report, the White House officials suggested, that may form the basis for this new conditional aid initiative….