Christian Solidarity International - USA

11/27/2025

Check out CSI's latest Podcast with Abi and Joel. "Why is Suleiman Khalil in prison in Syria?"

In February of this year, armed forces arrested a Christian former mayor without charge. He has been imprisoned ever since. His case may serve as a test for the future of freedom in Syria, says CSI Director of Advocacy Joel Veldkamp on the Christian Solidarity Podcast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV5_3zySJRI

11/23/2025

Gunmen stormed a Catholic school in Nigeria, abducting more than 300 students and teachers at a time when President Trump is threatening military action to protect Christians in the West African nation.

The attackers hit St. Mary’s Catholic School in central Niger State in the early hours Friday, spraying bullets into the air before rousting students from their dormitories and forcing them into the forest at gunpoint, police said.

https://www.wsj.com/world/africa/militants-abduct-300-children-from-catholic-school-in-nigeria-987a34ac

Students were taken from their dormitories and forced into the forest at gunpoint, police said.

11/06/2025

CSI spoke with CBN news about President Donald Trump's decision to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern, a label that could help put pressure on the Nigerian government to help protect Christians under duress. Joel Veldkamp, head of international communications at Christian Solidarity International, told CBN News that Nigeria was previously placed on the U.S. State Department's Countries of Particular Concern list and was later removed by the Biden administration. The nation's redesignation is welcomed by Veldkamp, who explained its significance."

There's a law from 1998 called the International Religious Freedom Act that requires the U.S. government to maintain a list of countries that commit or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom," he said. "And, once a country is on that list, the U.S. government is required to address those violations of religious freedom, including by economic sanctions, if necessary. Sadly, this list is quite political." Veldkamp said there are nations that deserve to be on the list that aren't and that Nigeria was one such country. "More Christians are killed in Nigeria for their faith every year than in the rest of the world combined," he said. "And, yet, somehow Nigeria is not on this list. As the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said, 'This is unexplainable.' So it's a long-overdue step that the president has put it back on the list."

Veldkamp said experts are waiting to see what Trump will do next. The president released a statement Nov. 1 on his Truth Social account threatening to take action if Nigeria doesn't take steps to protect Christians. "If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, 'guns-a-blazing,' to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities," he said. "I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!" Trump implored the Nigerian government to move fast. Veldkamp said he was fascinated to see the statement from the president and wondered what policy process was behind it. Already, he said, the issue is making waves in Nigeria.

A persecution watchdog is speaking out about President Donald Trump's decision to designate Nigeria a Country of Particular Concern, a label that could help ...

11/04/2025

Once again, the United States of America has designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” following the targeted killings of Christians, which have been described as genocidal.

This move comes after years of campaigning by CSI and other Christian organizations, which have documented systematic attacks against Christians over the past fifteen years, including killings, sexual violence, abductions, destruction of churches, and the wiping out of Christian villages in central and northeastern Nigeria.

A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on International Religious Freedom in the British Parliament in January 2020 also raised concern about the massacre of Christians in northern Nigeria. The report was titled Nigeria: Unfolding Genocide?

During his first term as President of the United States, Donald Trump designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern in December 2020, following a recommendation from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).

Former President Joe Biden, however, removed Nigeria from that list in November 2021, just before then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Nigeria — a move sharply criticized as emboldening the perpetrators of violence against Christians. USCIRF itself described the move as “appalling” and “unexplainable.”

What Does This Mean for Nigeria’s Christians?

“We have cried, prayed, fasted, and in voiceless agonies tried to tell our stories, which have been ignored until now. We cannot thank the United States government and all those who have been our voices all these years enough for this designation, which will now continue to echo all we have been saying for over a decade. We thank God for this answered prayer,” said Venerable Tunde Yusuf, a priest in Jos who barely escaped being killed during an attack.

Designating a country as a Country of Particular Concern means that the country has “engaged in or tolerated particularly severe violations of religious freedom… including violations such as torture, degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charges, abduction or clandestine detention, or other flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, or security of person.”

According to the U.S. State Department, when such violations occur and a country is placed on this list, and when “non-economic policy options designed to bring about cessation of particularly severe violations of religious freedom have reasonably been exhausted, an economic measure generally must be imposed” – meaning, economic sanctions.

A CSI team meets with Christian survivors of a Fulani militia massacre in Plateau State, Nigeria. April 2025. csi Once again, the United States of America has designated Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) for “particularly severe violations of religious freedom” following the targe...

10/20/2025

Joel Veldkamp of Christian Solidarity International (CSI) joins Billy Hallowell and Jen Lilley on "Into the Supernatural" to unpack the shocking reality unfolding in the Middle East.

From massacres of minorities to daily life under jihadist rule, Joel explains the dangers Christians face, the arrest of a Christian mayor, and why the new Syrian government poses one of the greatest foreign policy risks.

But in the midst of darkness, God is still moving. Joel and the team reflect on Ephesians 6, the demonic forces at work, and the surprising ways Jesus is revealing Himself — even in dreams — to those persecuting His church.

What happens when a former Al-Qaeda leader becomes president of Syria? Joel Veldkamp of Christian Solidarity International (CSI) joins Billy Hallowell and Je...

10/16/2025

TELL PRESIDENT TRUMP TO PUT WORDS INTO ACTION

President Trump has spoken more clearly and forcefully than any other American president about international religious freedom.

But words are not enough. Will you sign and share CSI’s petition to President Trump – urging him to put his words into action?

We urge the President to turn words of support into concrete action:

· Put Nigeria back on the list of Countries of Particular Concern.
· Hold Syria’s president accountable for violence against Christians and other religious minorities.
· Tell U.S. allies like the United Arab Emirates to stop fueling the genocidal civil war in Sudan.
· Support the Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh - help Christian victims of ethnic cleansing go back to their homes.
· Tell the Armenian government to release the bishops it is holding in prison.
· Convene a high-level interagency task force to advance religious freedom worldwide.

President Trump has spoken more clearly and forcefully than any other American president about international religious freedom. But words are not enough. Will you sign and share CSI’s petition to President Trump – urging him to put his words into action?

10/14/2025

TELL PRESIDENT TRUMP TO PUT WORDS INTO ACTION

President Trump has spoken more clearly and forcefully than any other American president about international religious freedom.

But words are not enough. Will you sign and share CSI’s petition to President Trump – urging him to put his words into action?

We urge the President to turn words of support into concrete action:

· Put Nigeria back on the list of Countries of Particular Concern.
· Hold Syria’s president accountable for violence against Christians and other religious minorities.
· Tell U.S. allies like the United Arab Emirates to stop fueling the genocidal civil war in Sudan.
· Support the Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabakh - help Christian victims of ethnic cleansing go back to their homes.
· Tell the Armenian government to release the bishops it is holding in prison.
· Convene a high-level interagency task force to advance religious freedom worldwide.

https://csi-usa.org/trumppetition/

10/11/2025

Watch the film: 160,000 and Counting

During the Sudanese civil war from 1983 to 2005, pro-government Islamist militias kidnapped tens of thousands of Christians and animists in southern Sudan and brought them to the north as slaves.

In 1995, working with a local underground network, CSI facilitated the liberation of a group of slaves for the first time and returned them to their homes. It was the beginning of CSI’s groundbreaking slave liberation work that still continues 30 years later. And the work will go on, in keeping with CSI founder Pastor Hansjürg Stückelberger’s promise that CSI would not give up its mission “until the last Sudanese slave is free.”

Watch video here

During the Sudanese civil war from 1983 to 2005, pro-government Islamist militias kidnapped tens of thousands of Christians and animists in southern Sudan (n...

10/09/2025

Adhot Deng Kueth: 21-year-old Adhot longs to reunite with the family she no longer remembers from before her abduction as a child. During her years in slavery, kindness was almost non-existent. After a particularly traumatic beating for once refusing an overwhelming workload, she decided to never defy an order again. Somehow, though, she also remembers a rare act of mercy from her slave master’s wife, who intervened when the master’s son assaulted her and thus prevented further abuse. Back in South Sudan, her dream of connecting with her family and restoring a caring bond gives her a sense of purpose and strength as she navigates the uncertainties of her new life in freedom.

10/08/2025

Anok Malith Kon: Despite grueling labor and sexual abuse from her master, Anok found solace and solidarity in her husband, another slave who worked nearby. Their union, a silent rebellion against their dark circumstances, was blessed with a child who symbolized hope. But the circumstances were brutal, and after giving birth, she was only granted 12 days of rest. Relief came unexpectedly when a trader from CSI’s network arrived: he offered a cattle vaccine to her master in exchange for her release. Anok’s husband still remains in slavery, and she longs to be united with him in freedom.

10/07/2025

Abuk Akech Yai's child: Abuk's child was not abducted, but was born into slavery. Though slave raiding practices ended in 2005, there was no provision in the peace agreement for emancipation and repatriation of slaves held in the north. As a result, tens of thousands are believed to remain enslaved, and their children are born into slavery with them. Thanks to CSI's liberation networks, Abuk's child will grow up in freedom in South Sudan.