#WeAreN2016 international congress on religious freedom opens in New York

The #WeAreN2016 Congress, an international event centering on religious freedom, will take place at the end of April in New York to highlight the persecution that Christians and other religious minorities face around the world.

"Christians account for 80% of persecuted minorities," the event's website says. "They are victims of the deliberate infliction of conditions of life that are calculated to bring about their physical destruction in whole or in part."

The event will be a gathering of experts as well as witnesses to what has been happening to Christians and other religious minorities in different parts of the globe, including Nigeria, Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria. Victims of the atrocities in the Middle East and other countries will also take part in the event. They want the world leaders to take action to address issues of violence and mass exodus.

According to the website, the actions of the Islamic State aka Daesh have been branded as genocide by governments and religious leaders, including the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the United States Congress, and Pope Francis. Christians and other minorities have suffered and are suffering from various acts of cruelty, including being beaten, abducted, extorted, crucified, murdered, beheaded, enslaved, and forced to convert to Islam. Girls and women have been subjected to rape, human trafficking, forced marriages, and other forms of sexual abuse, while kids have been recruited by force. Christian villages, homes, and churches have been destroyed and bombed, and historic religious sites have been vandalized.

Speakers include Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN; Ambassador Ufuk Gokcen, Permanent Observer of the Organization of the Islamic Cooperation to the UN; Dr. Thomas F. Farr, Director of the Religious Freedom Project at Georgetown University; Mr. Lars Adaktusson, Swedish Member of the European Parliament; Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus; Nina Shea, Director of the Center for Religious Freedom; among many others.

The #WeAreN2016 Congress on "Defending religious freedom and other human rights: Stopping mass atrocities against Christians and other believers," organized by CitizensGo and Mas Libres and co-sponsored by the organization In Defense of Christians, will be held from April 28 to 30 at the United Nations in New York.