CSI Raises Alarm at UN Over Mass Violence Against Christians in Nigeria’s Middle Belt

Our Correspondent

Christian Solidarity International, CSI, has warned the United Nations Human Rights Council that Fulani herding communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are waging an “organized campaign” to drive out indigenous Christian populations.

The warning was issued on October 5, 2026, in a statement to the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

“Christian Solidarity International wishes to underline the threat to religious freedom posed by mass violence directed against religious communities. Nowhere in the world today is this problem more urgent than in the Middle Belt region of Nigeria,” said Dr. Joel Veldkamp, CSI Director for Public Advocacy.

“There, a network of militias drawn from Fulani herding communities are waging an organized campaign to drive out the indigenous Christian populations,” Veldkamp added.

According to CSI, the violence has killed “untold thousands” of Christians in recent years and displaced millions, fuelled by prevailing impunity.

The organization said it was corroborating reports earlier relayed by the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea.

Ghanea, who met with high-ranking officials, civil society groups and survivors during an 11-day visit to Nigeria in June, reported that rural Christian communities were being coerced into so-called “peace deals” in which bandits were allowed to seize the proceeds of fields of their choice and “any woman that they want.”[take]Ghanea had highlighted the “little or no justice” communities experienced after enduring atrocities.

“Christian Solidarity International corroborates these horrific reports,” Veldkamp told the Council on September 17, citing reporting by its staff and partners on the ground in the Middle Belt.

“It is long past time for the Nigerian government, and the international human rights community to take decisive action to end the killings in the Middle Belt,” he said.

CSI said it has launched a campaign to raise financial and political support for Christians under siege in Nigeria.

Please follow and like us:

20