Corona virus outbreak has led to the food, security and financial crisis throughout the world. This pandemic has made many people foodless and difficult to survive.
Some of the Christian communities in Asia, especially in Vietnam and Pakistan are denied by the government and aid agencies for the food aid. According to the reports, they have been discriminated on the grounds of their faith and religion.
According to Open Doors, a ministry for persecuted Christians worldwide, in the communist country of Vietnam in Southeast Asia, the government denies food aid to more than 100 Christians including children and the elderly.
In Vietnam, 18 Christian families (107 people) were refused by authorities and they added, “You are Christians and your God shall take care of your family!” Authorities even said, “The Government is not responsible for your families!”
A local Open Doors partner, who was not, identified for security reasons, said, “They are striving to put food on their tables and they are consuming their rice little by little daily. They were so excited when they heard that help from the government was coming to their district — only to find out they were not on the list because they were Christians.
Christians are often confronted in Vietnam with ostracism, threats, torture and prison sentences, whose atheistic government tolerates no faith or ideology other than Communism.
Vietnam is ranked as the world’s 21st worst nation when it comes to Christian persecution on the 2020 World Watch List for Open Doors USA.
“About 80 per cent of Christians in the country belong to ethnic minorities like the Hmong and face social isolation, persecution and attacks, according to estimates. Christian children of an ethnic minority are discriminated against in schools; their medical needs are also frequently ignored. Some are not even permitted to go to school, “according to Open Doors.
According to Vatican News, which cited the international Catholic charity and foundation Assistance to the Church in Need, Muslim charities in Pakistan are excluding Christians from their distribution of food aid and emergency.
Thomas Heine-Geldern, ACN International Executive Chairman, said many Christians earn the lowest salaries, employed as everyday wage employees, domestic servants, cooks, or kitchen staff. “These areas of employment are precisely those most affected by the economic shutdown,” he said after being briefed by Executive Director Cecil Shane Chaudhary.
“Many Christian workers were fired by families for whom they served for years without warning,” Heine-Geldern said.
The U.S. International Religious Freedom Commission has also taken note of discrimination in Pakistan’s distribution of aid. “As COVID19 continues to spread, vulnerable communities are fighting hunger within Pakistan, and keeping their families safe and healthy. Food help should not be withheld because of one’s religion, “said Anurima Bhargava, a commissioner for the USCIRF.
In the world, Pakistan ranks the 5th worst nation in ill-treating Christiaans as per the 2020 Watch List Open Door’s USA.
“Although no major bombing attacks on church buildings occurred in the reporting period of the World Watch List 2020, there are dozens of smaller ‘everyday attacks’ against churches and cemeteries,” the ministry says.
Christians are also targeted by both Pakistan’s blasphemy laws designed to protect Islamic sensitivities and hardliners who have committed abuse and killed hundreds of believers in recent years.