Sign our Open Letter

Sign our ACN Open Letter, and call on the Government to make persecuted Christians and other religious minorities a priority for taxpayer-funded UK aid

Around the world today, people are persecuted simply because of their peacefully held religious beliefs. They urgently need the UK’s help.

In May 2022, the previous Government published its 10-year strategy for international development, which sets four priorities for UK aid. Religious minorities were not a priority, and weren’t mentioned anywhere at all in the strategy. And yet religious communities suffer all manner of human rights violations, including the very worst: sexual violence, abduction, forced marriage and conversion, displacement, destruction of property, discrimination in schools and the workplace, physical and mental torture.

We encourage you to sign our open letter to the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy. Together, we can make a difference to the suffering Church. But we need your help…

Iqbal Masih was 4 years old when he was claimed by a carpet factory owner to repay his family’s debt. Iqbal was chained to a loom and made to work as much as 14 hours a day. He was fed very little and beaten more than other children because he attempted to escape and refused to work. The dire conditions he was in affected his growth; he had the height and weight of a 6-year-old when he was 12.

He escaped, and became an outspoken human rights advocate but on 16 April 1995 he was shot and killed for raising his voice against modern slavery in Pakistan.

Iqbal is not alone; across Pakistan, it’s estimated that more than 1 million people work in bonded labour in 20,000 brick kilns. Christians are disproportionately affected; in some areas they make up 80% of the bonded labourers in brick kilns despite making up less than 1.5% of Pakistan's population.

Your action today CAN make a difference

Sign our open letter and call on the UK Government to ensure Overseas Development Aid is deployed to Christians and religious minorities trapped in modern slavery and other dire situations.