Syria, DRC, Turkey, Iraq, and Algeria: Five ECLJ’s priorities in response to increased persecution of Christians in 2025

In 2025, 388 million Christians worldwide were exposed to severe persecution and discrimination because of their faith, one in seven Christians globally, according to the 2026 World Watch List published by the NGO Open Doors. As persecution has worsened for the thirteenth consecutive year, the European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) continues its advocacy efforts focusing on five key countries: Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Turkey, Iraq, and Algeria.

An alarming global context for Christians

The top five countries in the 2026 World Watch List, i.e. the most hostile toward Christians, are:

1. North Korea
2. Somalia
3. Yemen
4. Sudan
5. Eritrea

The Open Doors report highlights several countries at the heart of the ECLJ’s advocacy work with European and United Nations institutions, particularly Syria (6th), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (29th), Turkey (41st), Iraq (18th), and Algeria (20th).

Syria: Christians under the new Islamist regime of Ahmed al-Charaa

Syria, ranked 18th in 2025, is now among the ten countries where Christians are most persecuted, reaching 6th place in 2026, reflecting a dramatic deterioration of the situation.

Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad and the takeover by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Syrian Christians have faced a sharp escalation in violence. They now live in a climate of almost constant fear, marked by persecution, targeted killings, and repeated attacks on churches. On June 22, 2025, an Islamist suicide bombing carried out during Mass at Mar Elias Church in Damascus killed at least 25 people and injured more than 60. The overall degradation of living conditions, exacerbated by crime, corruption, religious discrimination, and political instability, is driving an increasing number of Christians into exile.

In response, the ECLJ regularly mobilizes at the European Parliament, notably during conferences organized by the Christians of the Middle East Intergroup. We call on Europeans to deploy concrete means to guarantee the religious freedom of Syrian Christians and to recognize them as living and indispensable communities within society, rather than as foreign minorities. On August 4, 2025, the ECLJ submitted a written statement to the UN Human Rights Council, based on first-hand testimonies, warning of the situation of Christians in Syria since Ahmed al-Charaa came to power and of the risk of the disappearance of religious pluralism in favor of a centralized Islamist governance model. In this context, the ECLJ also conducted an interview with Dr. Jens Kreinath, an anthropologist in close contact with Alawite and Eastern Christian communities in Antioch/Hatay, to analyze the nature of the post-Assad regime and its consequences for Christian communities.

Congo (DRC): Christians massacred by Islamists from Allied Democratic Forces

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has risen six places and now ranks 29th in the 2026 Index, compared to 35th in 2025.

Christians face severe and growing persecution, particularly in the eastern regions (North Kivu, Ituri), which have been devastated by decades of armed conflict driven by competition over strategic natural resources, ethnic rivalries, and geopolitical tensions with neighboring countries. Violence is largely fueled by Islamist armed groups, including the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), affiliated with the Islamic State, which regularly target Christian communities because of their faith.

Following the massacre of more than 70 Christians on February 15, 2025, in a Protestant church in North Kivu by Islamist groups, the ECLJ issued an urgent call for justice and international action. We engaged several UN mechanisms, including the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of religion and on torture, as well as the European Union and the African Union, demanding strong diplomatic action and prosecutions against those responsible in the DRC. In parallel, the ECLJ mobilized alongside the Congolese NGO Un Jour Nouveau to bring field testimonies and data before international institutions. These actions led to an official submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on internally displaced persons, an intervention before the UN Human Rights Council, and meetings in Brussels with Members of the European Parliament, the European Commission, and the European External Action Service.

Turkey: Christians facing with Turkish-Islamic religious nationalism

Turkey ranks 41st in the 2026 Index, compared to 45th in 2025.

Christian communities face persistent legal and social pressure that restricts their religious freedom and public existence. Political and media discourse frequently portrays Christians, whether Turkish citizens or foreigners, as a threat to national security. This hostility is also reflected in a systematic policy of expropriation of property belonging to Christian minorities, despite their official recognition and the obligation to protect them. The ECLJ has intervened in two cases pending before the European Court of Human Rights: Balat Rum Balino Kilisesi Vakfı (Foundation of the Greek Orthodox Balino Church in the Balat district) and Surp Pırgiç Ermeni Hastanesi Vakfı (Foundation of the Armenian Saint Savior Hospital), a bicentennial institution deprived of land recognized as its own since the Ottoman era.

In October 2025, we published a study on the persecution of foreign Christians in Turkey, particularly regarding the policy of targeted expulsions carried out in the name of national security: between 2019 and 2024, at least 132 foreign Christians were expelled, a figure rising to 303 people when their families are included. In December 2025, the ECLJ hosted in Strasbourg a Turkish lawyer specializing in such cases before the ECHR, notably the Wiest case, in which the ECLJ intervened in November 2024. This case, expected to be adjudicated in 2026, constitutes a reference for about twenty similar cases involving arbitrarily expelled foreign Christians.

On October 16, 2025, during the OSCE Human Dimension Conference in Warsaw, Thibault van den Bossche delivered an oral statement denouncing Turkey’s actions against Christians. Ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Turkey in November 2025, the ECLJ published an in-depth and widely covered report on the persecution of Christians in the country, across all nationalities and denominations.

Iraq: The triple marginalization of Christians

Nearly eight years after the official defeat of the Islamic State, the situation of Christians remains deeply concerning. Iraq ranks 18th among countries persecuting Christian communities, despite their ancient presence in the country.

Christians in Iraq suffer from institutional and social vulnerability. The Constitution establishes Islam as the state religion, and Sharia law prohibits Muslims from changing religion, severely restricting religious freedom. Predominantly Chaldean or Assyrian, Christians are now largely concentrated in the five northern provinces, the result of decades of violence and forced displacement.

The ECLJ works to alert the United Nations to these persecutions, which are driving Christians to leave the country. We have conveyed to the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues the concerns and needs expressed by NGOs active on the ground and by church leaders. Ahead of the Iraqi parliamentary elections of November 2025, the ECLJ also published an analysis on the “triple marginalization of Iraqi Christians”, highlighting land dispossession and cultural genocide, institutional and political fragilities, and social and economic pressures.

Algeria: An Arab and Muslim Algerian Identity with no place for Christians

Algeria ranks 20th in the 2026 Index of Christian persecution. Although it ranked 19th in 2025, freedom of religion continues to deteriorate. The last evangelical churches that remained open were forced to close at the beginning of 2025. The administrative closure of numerous churches, the impossibility of opening new ones, and the strict regulation of religious activities hinder the normal exercise of faith, while the 2020 Constitution no longer recognizes freedom of belief. The Algerian government particularly targets Protestants in Kabylia and converts from Islam, criminalizing their religious practices through penal laws on blasphemy, proselytism, and terrorism. Arbitrary arrests and convictions are increasing.

On September 29, 2025, the ECLJ co-organized an event with Jubilee Campaign at the Human Rights Council to denounce religion-based arbitrary detention. We invited scholar Charlotte Touati to present the situation of Christians in Kabylia, who are persecuted not only for their faith but also for their ethnic identity, which Algiers seeks to suppress in favor of an Algerian identity based exclusively on Arabness and Islam.

The year 2026 will be pivotal for Christianity in Algeria, as Pope Leo XIV, who refers to himself as a “son of Saint Augustine,” is expected to visit the country after Ramadan, which ends in late March. This visit would be a historic first for a pope and could coincide with the commemoration of the assassination of the seven monks of Tibhirine by members of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) thirty years ago.

Constance Avenel