Eritrea is #5 and Ethiopia is #36 on Open Doors’ World Watch list, an annual ranking of the 50 countries where Christians face the most extreme persecution.
Recent distress over refugees landing in Europe has overshadowed the efforts of African countries also grappling with refugee emergencies. While European nations seek to limit the “economic” refugees as opposed to those fleeing because of persecution, Ethiopia, for example, is taking in thousands of refugees from neighbouring countries.
According to the United Nations, developing countries (mostly in Africa) are taking in a disproportionate number of refugees — currently 80% of the world’s refugee population. Refugees hosted in developing countries put enormous pressure on water and health care systems in host communities. Source: UN.org
Ethiopia
Ethiopia faces high rates of poverty, human rights violations, and illiteracy. There is intense family pressure on those who convert to Christianity from Islam. Ethiopia borders Eritrea, and the border between the two has been closed since 2020.
Example story from Ethiopia:
A woman was tortured because of her faith and miscarried her baby as a result. Her husband was detained in prison, supposedly because he was a member of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement. She managed to escape from the hospital where she was receiving treatment and fled to Addis Ababa.
Eritrea
Eritreans live in constant fear that they are being monitored by security agents and that any information gathered against them could be used in their arrest, disappearance, or death. No religions other than the Eritrean Orthodox Church, Catholicism, the Lutheran Church, and Sunni Islam are allowed to formally exist. Eritreans must also serve a compulsory military conscription, which is essentially slave labour.
Example story from Eritrea:
Like many others, one man was forced to serve in the military, where he and his fellow soldiers were poorly fed and survived often on nothing but lentils. Medical treatment was not available. He learned there about Jesus Christ, and eventually became a Christian, although it was strictly forbidden. He met with other believers in secret, but it was incredibly stressful, as they were constantly afraid of being discovered. After leaving the military, he decided he could not handle the constant fear of being caught and imprisoned indefinitely. He eventually fled the country, leaving his extended family and loved ones behind.