News & Stories


At Yerevan’s Hovhannes Tumanyan Museum, displaced Artsakh children preserve dialect through fairy tales

Armenian children displaced from their homeland of Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh) participate in an identity-preservation program at the Hovhannes Tumanyan Museum in Yerevan, Armenia.  Guest contribution from Siranush Sargsyan YEREVAN – The idea for the “Fairy Tales and Identity Preservation” initiative began with a question posed inside the Hovhannes Tumanyan Museum in Yerevan: what could be… Read more »

Alawite parents challenge daughter’s abduction in Syria

Batoul Alloush, a 21-year-old Alawite student abducted from her medical studies and presented to the public as a convert to Islam, has emerged as a symbol of the ongoing persecution of the Alawite community in Syria.  “I am addressing you from the broken heart of a mother … My daughter was kidnapped from the middle of the university. God gave me patience and strength to defend my daughter and bring… Read more »

West Papua: Upsurge in fighting worsens humanitarian crisis

A group of newly arrived displaced people in Nabire. csi   Fighting between the West Papua National Liberation Army (TPNPB) and the Indonesian armed forces intensified in April impacting many indigenous Christian communities. Between April 12 and 15, Indonesian army military operations were reportedly carried out in Pogoma and Kemburu in the Papua Highlands of… Read more »

Nepal: Acquittal for pastor charged under anti-conversion law

Pastor Sunil and his wife have been through an ordeal from which they are now recovering. csi   Fifteen months after his arrest on charges under Nepal’s anti-conversion law, and more than one year after being freed from jail, Pastor Sunil Lamichhane (name changed) has finally been acquitted. A district court in western Nepal quashed… Read more »

Who are the people of the Nuba Mountains of Sudan?

Benjamin Barnaba is a CSI project partner in Sudan. csi   Who are the Nuba? The Nuba people have built resilient communities. They are subsistence farmers and also exploit minerals like gold. They are hardworking people; this is reflected in their cultural beliefs, values and practices. The Nuba are very much peace lovers; they are easy-going… Read more »