Worrying Plight of Christian Women in Nigeria Concerns the UN

A faithful prays at the Evangelical Church in Minna on December 7, 2025.

The fear, abduction, and violence are becoming the daily life of many Christian women in some regions of Nigeria. Independent UN experts raised the alarm on June 8 over the serious human rights violations suffered by women and girls from Christian communities and other minority religions in the country. Killings, sexual violence, forced conversions, forced marriages or disappearances, the testimonies collected describe a particularly worrying situation in northern Nigeria and the Central Belt Region.

"These reports are deeply disturbing," warn UN experts. According to them, the degradation of Nigeria's security situation has facilitated the actions of extremist groups such as Boko Haram, the Islamic State of West Africa or groups involved in farmer-herder conflicts. "These actions have devastating consequences for civilians, in a context of persistent impunity, institutional failures and insufficient protection from the authorities," they denounce.

Thus, the rapporteurs and experts express concern for the fate of Christian women and girls. "We are particularly alarmed by the specific and increased risks of discrimination, violence and exploitation to which Christian women and girls are exposed, as we continue to document serious cases of sexual violence, abductions, forced disappearances, forced conversions and child marriages among them," they declared. According to them, "in many cases, those who resist would be threatened, punished, forced into disappearance or killed."

In a communication addressed to the Nigerian government, the authors of the report cite several specific cases, including the disappearance of girls kidnapped from a church in the state of Borno in northwestern Nigeria, the forced conversion followed by the marriage of a 13-year-old girl in the northeastern state of Bauchi or the attack of a 16-year-old Christian girl whose hand had been cut off after her family refused a forced marriage proposal by militants. Situations that illustrate the vulnerability of women and girls affected by the violence. According to the experts, those displaced by the conflicts are particularly exposed to abuse. Some would be forced into sex in exchange for food or essential goods in displacement camps, while others choose to hide their religious identity or wear the hijab to avoid violence and be accepted in areas controlled by armed or religious groups, according to the UN.

For UN experts, these violence cannot be dissociated from a wider context of persecution targeting Christian communities in several states of northern Nigeria. "Violence against Christians and other minority religions are common currency," they say, pointing to the application of local interpretations of Sharia law in 12 northern states, as well as the existence of blasphemy laws and persistent difficulties in accessing justice.

The UN experts call for the authorities to take immediate measures to protect those threatened, obtain the release of kidnapped women and girls, conduct independent inquiries and pursue the perpetrators. "The testimonies we have collected paint a picture of awful fear, trauma, coercion and abandonment," they declared. "Victims and survivors must not be left without protection, justice, or reparation, including in the matter of rehabilitation and concrete support."

This worry joins that expressed by Pope Francis on February 8, 2026, voicing the resurgence of mass attacks and kidnappings in Nigeria and calling on authorities to "act with determination to guarantee the security and protection of every citizen," recalling that "the future resides in the respect and fraternity between peoples."

According to independent experts, the emergency is now to prevent these violence from continuing in impunity. "The impunity with which these crimes are committed only feeds the violence," they said. "Nigerian authorities must act urgently to prevent irreparable damage and ensure that all perpetrators are held accountable,"

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