MADRID , 15 Nov. 16 / 10:40 am (ICA).- The Foundation Pontifical Aid to the Church in Need (AIN) has presented in Madrid its Report on Religious Freedom in the World, a study that concludes that "radical Islam is the main threat" to religious freedom and that the christian religion is the most persecuted in the world, because more than 334 million christians now live in countries where they are persecuted and discriminated against.
The Report on Religious Freedom produced by the AIN comprises the biennium from June 2014 to June 2016, and was presented by the director of the foundation of pontifical in Spain, Javier Menéndez Ros, together with the Archbishop of Homs (Syria), Mgr. Jean Abdo Arbach.
The study shows a serious decline in this fundamental right. In fact, of the 196 countries analysed, 38 were suffering serious violations, in 23 there is religious persecution, and 15 discrimination.
"One out of every three people in the world live in a country where there is religious freedom," said Menendez Ros and said that "without religious freedom there is no true freedom and other freedoms are limited".
The countries in which persecution is the greatest are: Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Iraq, Nigeria, Syria and Somalia.
The director of AIN Spain asserted that "christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, for that one out of every six christians in the world live in countries with religious persecution".
On the recent attacks on religious freedom in Spain as a profanation of Churches, theft of the Blessed Sacrament, or insults to religious festivals, Menéndez Rivers stated that the situation of the country must be understood in the context of the other nations of Europe, "because they also occur in those countries."
"Being in a situation of respect to the religious freedom protected by the law, we can see that there are disturbing facts and attacks", he said.
he Also said he sees with "concern facts that there are more and more attacks on the clergy and the Churches, especially the catholic, also, of what is most sacred to us as religious symbols or the Blessed Sacrament, and the reluctance that the Church can educate the school."
From the AIN have stressed the importance of respect for religious freedom in the world, as it is a fundamental right enshrined in article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The article points out that "every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; including freedom to change his religion or belief, as well as the freedom to manifest their religion, their belief, individually and collectively, both in public and in private, by teaching, practice, worship and observance".
Genocide of christians
According to accurate the report, the extremist Islam is the main threat to the freedom of religion, and the main cause of persecution. 1 out of every 5 countries in the world has suffered attacks by radical islamists.
Faced with the threat of islamic radicalism is also seen the growth of a new phenomenon "of violence without precedent" that qualify as "hiperextremismo islamist", that is causing in the Middle East, "the elimination of all forms of religious diversity, with the pretension of imposing states monoconfesionales in the entire region."
"In the last two years, the attacks perpetrated against religious minorities in the Middle East have made us aware of the intention of total annihilation of religious freedom in that area of the world and in other places," says the study.
The Report of Religious Freedom in the World 2016 "report this violation, up to reach to qualify as 'genocide' the actions of the Daesh in Syria and Iraq."
The Archbishop of Homs (Syria), Mgr. Jean Abdo Arbach, denounced the lack of religious freedom in the Middle East and the special threat to the christians.
The Prelate said that "christians we suffer persecution from the time of jesus Christ" and that although there are no clear numbers of the number of christians killed for their faith, "so only in Homs, we recorded 420 christian martyrs, with name and surname".
According to the Convention on the Prevention and the Healing of the Crime of Genocide of the UN is to be understood as genocide acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group as such.
This destruction, indicated in the convention, is done via the killing members of the group, serious attacks against their physical integrity or mental or subjection intended for the group to conditions of existence that may bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
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