01/02/2025 Middle East (International Christian Concern) – Eight of the 12 members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) actively participate in or condone Christian persecution within their borders.
Algeria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela allow ongoing discrimination or persecution of Christ followers within their borders. Despite this, the United States continues to import petroleum from these nations. In 2022, 11% of the U.S. petroleum imports came from Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Local militias in Iraq inflict discrimination and violence upon Christians for their faith, while provisions for religious freedom aren’t allowed in Saudi Arabia. Any public displays of non-Islamic worship or religious symbols not affiliated with Islam are prohibited by Saudi Arabian law.
In Algeria, proselytization intended to convert Muslims is illegal, and distributing literature that may “shake the faith of a Muslim” is punishable with a fine and a prison sentence.
Iranians face the death penalty if they are found “insulting the Prophet [Muhammad].” Additionally, the Iranian constitution states that all human rights must comply with “Islamic criteria.”
Speech deemed “offensive to Muslims” is banned in Libya, where authorities arrested in 2023 six Muslims who converted to Christianity. Nigeria has witnessed the slaughter of 62,000 Christians at the hands of Islamist extremists since 2000.
The law in the United Arab Emirates provides for a potential five-year prison sentence “for preaching against Islam,” and Venezuela’s authoritarian regime reportedly condones harassment of religious groups who oppose its policies.
In addition to importing petroleum from these nations, the United States continues to trade with many of them. In 2022, the U.S. imported $11.2 million in goods from Iran, $5.4 billion in goods and services from Nigeria, and $24.9 billion in goods and services from Saudi Arabia. In 2023, the U.S. imported $3 billion in goods from Algeria.
According to a September United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report, our government must be more proactive to ensure the establishment and protection of religious freedoms around the globe.
The report examined the act of designating a nation as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for participating in egregious religious freedoms abuses. It found that these designations aren’t enough to curb the behavior of violating nations and questioned the government’s habit of suspending sanctions against such nations.
“The indefinite suspension of sanctions or other punitive measures for religious freedom violators, whether due to inertia or competing policy priorities, impedes accountability for religious freedom violators,” the report stated.
Ongoing trade and the failure of the U.S. government to assign genuine consequences to nations fraught with religious freedom abuses stagnates the progression of human rights at best and encourages religious oppression at worst.
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