In Nigeria, seven-year-old Nenche Stephen attends a follow-up visit at the hospital after Fulani fighters struck a critical machete wound to his neck on Palm Sunday. csi Two months after losing her husband, two young children, and seven other family members in a brutal attack on their village, Alice Steven is slowly beginning to… Read more »
News & Stories
India’s Hindu nationalists fuel anti-conversion drive in Nepal
Many people from the lowest social groups in Nepal face discrimination, including in housing, and are drawn to Christianity in search of dignity and equality. Kathmandu, 2022. csi What the Hindu nationalist groups call Ghar Wapsi—a “return home” to the Hindu fold—is increasingly playing out in Nepal’s towns and villages. The issue has ceased to be… Read more »
Swiss government fails to act on “Nagorno Karabakh peace forum”
Swiss Parliamentarian Erich Vontobel (left) and Sarkis Shahinian (Secretary General of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Switzerland-Armenia) at the founding meeting of the Committee “Swiss Peace Initiative for Nagorno-Karabakh.” Photo: CSI Media release CSI supports the Swiss sponsored peace negotiations between the Azerbaijani Government and representatives of the forcibly displaced Armenian Christian population of Nagorno… Read more »
Where is Sudan going? The uncertain future of the Sudanese people
Kamal Fahmi, who is originally from Sudan, founded Set My People Free in 2010 to campaign against blasphemy and apostasy laws. linkedin Guest commentary by Kamal Fahmi I’ve witnessed Sudan’s journey over the past few decades, a path marked by a desperate struggle for freedom. In the civil war that has raged between military factions… Read more »
“They are symbols of resistance”: Armenian prisoners in Azerbaijan
Vardanyan, who was captured in 2023, has become a key face of the resistance against Azerbaijan while facing brutal conditions with his fellow Armenian prisoners in Baku. photo: free armenian prisoners In a moving appeal, David Vardanyan, son of imprisoned businessman Ruben Vardanyan, has called on US President Donald Trump to use his political influence… Read more »
Pakistan: Young Christian man acquitted of blasphemy charges
Chand (middle) and his family have been through very challenging times. csi Chand Shamaun, a 26-year-old ambulance driver from a Christian quarter in Punjab Province, was arrested on June 23, 2024. The police were reportedly called after Chand had a public disagreement with his brother over the division of inherited property. Matters rapidly escalated… Read more »
Lifting the sanctions on Syria: “It will take 3-5 years for the situation to improve”
Speaking to CSI in early 2024 you said that the vast majority of Syrians were living below the poverty line. How is the situation now? There are even more people living below the poverty line now. We have over a million new unemployed who have no income: members of the army and police units that… Read more »
Syria: Systematic Persecution of Alawites
When dictator Bashar al-Assad was thrown out of power in December 2024, it ended over 50 years of his family controlling Syria. Now a new temporary government is running Syria, led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa and dominated by a jihadist organization called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) . For the Alawite people, who are a… Read more »
Charles Glass: In the “New Syria,” violence and high hopes
U.S. President Donald Trump with new Syrian President – and former jihadist leader – Ahmad al-Sharaa. Riyadh, 14 May 2025. (Karoline Leavitt on X) Guest Commentary by Charles Glass And you know something’s happeningBut you don’t know what it isDo you, Mister Jones? Bob Dylan, “Ballad of a Thin Man,” 1965 When the… Read more »
May review: Exploring peace in Nagorno Karabakh and the lifting of sanctions on Syria
These women and their children are among the 120,000 Armenians displaced from their homes in Nagorno Karabakh. csi The catalyst was a trip to Armenia in September 2024 and a moving encounter with refugees from Nagorno Karabakh – which Azerbaijan had invaded one year previously, expelling its 120,000-strong Armenian Christian population. “They asked me,… Read more »