Thibault van den Bossche: New Advocacy Officer for Persecuted Christians

The European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) is pleased to announce the recruitment of Thibault van den Bossche for a new position dedicated to the defense of persecuted Christians around the world.

Since its creation in 1998, the ECLJ has devoted a significant part of its activities to defending the religious freedom of Christians in Europe, and around the world. From administrative difficulties to real persecution, the ECLJ brings the issues that Christians face to the attention of international institutions: the fight against the death penalty for blasphemy in Pakistan, massacres in Nigeria, expropriations of Christians in Turkey or the persecution of ex-Muslim Christians in Europe, and so on. Advocacy work on behalf of the persecuted is titanic.

It's great news for our organization to now have someone dedicated full-time to this demanding mission, to bring to the attention of international institutions the violations of Christians’ rights, and to urge them to take action.

Thibault van den Bossche will be based in our Strasbourg office, where he will work on this issue with the institutions the ECLJ is most familiar with: the European Court of Human Rights, the European Union, the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Mr. van den Bossche has already some experience with the European Parliament as he spent a few months there on behalf of Europe for Family. Also he shouldn’t have any trouble making himself understood by (almost) everyone, since he speaks French, English and Arabic.

Thibault van den Bossche has returned to France after five years in Egypt, teaching in Cairo and Alexandria. Before that, he gained valuable experience with Œuvre d’Orient in Kurdistan and obtained a Master’s degree in international law, international relations and geopolitics. He will be keen to continue the work already carried out by ECLJ, and to go even further in analyzing problems and solutions, so that one day, we hope, Christians will no longer be the world’s most persecuted minority.

“I became aware that it was possible to take concrete action in support of persecuted Christians during my international law studies in Lyon, when I taught French to Christian Iraqi refugees. This was the beginning of my commitment, which led me to do an internship and then voluntary work with Œuvre d’Orient for one year. After working for five years in Egyptian Catholic schools, I’m thrilled to join the ECLJ team on this great mission.”