The Voice of the suffering and persecuted​

"I once thought interfaith dialogue was something we do, but it is what we are. I once thought diversity was something we were, but it is what we do. We are all one, and [we are all] brothers."

When protests began in Loikaw in May 2021, he acted as mediator between the unarmed protesters, many of whom were Christians, and security forces.

Equipped with rocks and hammers, they grind the mineral into a dust and sift it in the bottom of a basin, just like the gold diggers from ages past.

The report by the Archdiocese of Imphal openly questions the role that state security forces have played in the conflict. “It is hard to say if the state forces were outnumbered or overwhelmed with calls for help, or if they were complicit."

The report finds that discrimination and persecution are clearly noticeable in 61 countries, and that in 49 of them, it is the government that persecutes or even murders its own citizens on religious grounds, with scarcely any reaction from the international community.

They possess vital minerals, particularly coltan, which is indispensable for high-tech devices. But these blessings have become curses for inhabitants of the region, who are subjected to the violence and exploitation of armed militias.

“Those that are not Muslims don’t vote for our party. Most of them. So why should I give them the deputy governor position? I did my calculation, and I knew we could win the election without giving them [that].”

“We are encouraging parish priests to create interreligious groups, and we are providing training in all the northern districts to promote interreligious dialogue and create bridges for people to meet and talk to each other in safety."

ACN does not receive money from states or other NGOs, which means that this aid was only possible due to the generosity of more than 364,000 individual benefactors donating $158M in total, almost $13M more than in 2021.

It is important to mark the anniversary of the massacre by “reminding the world of the evil of terrorism and the long-term effects it has on people.”