Wissam al-Saliby has been appointed President of the 21Wilberforce Global Freedom Center. Al-Saliby is an internationally recognized expert in international religious freedom and human rights who brings more than fifteen years of experience in advocating for religious freedom at the United Nations, training and capacity building for human rights in the Middle East and around the world, and strategic leadership …

By Trent Martin, 21Wilberforce Advocacy & Training Coordinator 21Wilberforce partners with a seminary on the Thai-Burma (also known as Myanmar) border that is working to help address a crisis that displaced people fleeing a new military offensive by the Karen National Union. This recent occurrence forced the Myanmar military junta to surrender the strategic border town of Myawaddy last week. …

Rev. Hkalam Samson was among 3,300 prisoners released from Myitkyina Prison in a junta amnesty on Wednesday, April 17th. In a cruel turn of events, the former head of the Kachin Baptist Convention and chairman of the Kachin National Consultative Assembly was rearrested just 24 hours later. Military intelligence personnel and men in uniform returned to the home of Rev. …

By Paul and Rebecca Mele Gadzama Ten years ago, the terrorist group Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from Chibok Secondary School. Fifty-seven of the girls escaped while they were being ferried into the Sambisa forest. Two of the girls later escaped and were found by a vigilante group before being handed over to the military. Not too long after, 102 …

Following a landslide election win by the pro-democracy NLD party on 1 February 2021, the Burmese military seized control of Burma. In Myanmar, what started as civil disobedience quickly became a civil war. The Rohingya and many of Burma’s largely Christian ethnic groups have endured decades of abuse, persecution and ethnic violence. The Biden administration has formally determined that Myanmar’s …

Eyes were opened to the plight of millions of Christian brothers and sisters across the world during a recent Dallas Baptist University convocation led by 21Wilberforce Founder and President Emeritus Randel Everett. He spoke to over 1000 students and faculty of DBU about the need to stand with the persecuted Church Everett talked about Mariam Ibraheem, a Sudanese woman who …

In a recent article for Christianpost.com titled “Remembering the persecuted during Lent”,  Knox Thames, writes that Lent is a time of reflection about the ultimate sacrifice Christ made on the cross. The piece also encourages us to remember and to pray for modern day martyrs who are hurting for their faith. To support Christians in that effort, Knox has launched …

The International Religious Freedom Act, a transformative piece of legislation, was written, debated, re-written and nearly left for dead before Congress voted unanimously for its passage in the fall of 1998. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has published The 25th Anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act: A Retrospective. This publication, co-authored by Lou Sabatier, 21Wilberforce …

“Religious freedom for everyone, everywhere, all the time” was the motto for the fourth annual International Religious Freedom Summit 2024 held January 29-30 in Washington, DC.  This two day event drew religious freedom advocates — faith groups, civil society, and governments — to listen and learn and to build bridges and new alliances to defend those who are denied the …

21Wilberforce will join with the Chin Association of Maryland (CAM), the U.S. Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, the American Baptist Churches USA, Boat People SOS, International Campaign for the Rohingya, and the Burma Advocacy Group to co-sponsor a Congressional Briefing hosted by Congressman Chris Smith, “Rising Persecution of Christians and the …