The United Nations has been urged to act now to protect Christians in Syria amid the ‘chaos’ which has been unleashed following the collapse of the government.
The overthrow of the Assad regime has allowed extreme Islamist groups to rise to power and sow fear and instability among Christian communities.
An online petition organised by CitizenGo calls on ‘the United Nations to act decisively to safeguard Syria’s Christians before it’s too late’.
They are urging Nazila Ghanea, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and Geir Pedersen, UN Envoy for Syria, to thoroughly investigate the treatment of Christians.
According to CitizenGo, ‘churches have been vandalised, religious symbols defiled, and Christian communities have been driven to flee amid growing fears of violence.
‘Syrian Christians – one of the world’s oldest Christian communities – are once again at risk of persecution, displacement, and erasure.’
The petition, which aims to reach 200,000 signatures, has (at time of writing) been signed by 114,701 people.
