What changed

B100355/2026

B100345/2026

European Parliament resolution on the ongoing persecution of Christians in Nigeria, notably the Kawel village massacre

(2026/2800(RSP))

– having regard to RulesRule 150(5) and 136(4) of its Rules of Procedure,

whereas Christians are reported to be the most persecuted religious group globally and the failure to acknowledge and address this undermines credibility of international efforts to protect freedom of religion or belief;

having regard to its previous resolutions on Nigeria,

whereas on the night of 22-23 June 2026, armed Fulani militants reportedly affiliated with highly violent Islamist organisations attacked the predominantly Christian village of Kawel in Bokkos Local Government Area, Plateau State, deliberately targeting Christian civilians and church leaders; whereas the attack killed at least 28 Christians, including Pastor Markus Nyam of the Church of Christ in Nations and other members of his congregation, injured many others, and destroyed homes and community buildings by fire;

having regard to the recent reports and statements by the United Nations, the European Union, the Holy See, and international human rights and peacebuilding organizations regarding the security and humanitarian crisis in Nigeria,

whereas telecommunications were reportedly disrupted during the attack, preventing residents from requesting assistance; whereas troops from Operation Enduring Peace, stationed approximately one mile away, allegedly failed to respond to distress calls and arrived only after the attack had ended;

whereas in June 2026, a brutal armed attack on civilians in the Kawel community, Plateau State, caused dozens of deaths among the local Christian community, widespread injuries, and infrastructure damage, reflecting the tragic intersection of ethnic-religious tensions and resource conflicts;

whereas, despite repeated warnings from local communities, churches and civil society organisations, the Nigerian authorities have been unable to prevent such attacks or to provide adequate protection to vulnerable Christian populations, to ensure timely and effective intervention, or to carry out thorough investigations and prosecutions;

whereas international reports indicate that regional insecurity inflicts severe suffering across religious lines, as armed non-state actors indiscriminately target civilian populations of all faiths and their places of worship;

whereas the Kawel massacre in part of a broader pattern of repeated deadly attacks affecting communities of different faiths and ethnicities across Plateau State, Benue State and other parts of Nigeria’s Middle Belt;

whereas the Middle Belt region faces an intensifying conflict over land and scarce natural resources, worsened by climate change, desertification, and environmental degradation, forcing nomadic pastoralists southward into areas occupied by sedentary agrarian communities;

Condemns in the strongest possible terms the massacre of Christians in Kawel village and expresses its deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the Christian communities of Plateau State and all those affected by this horrific attack;

whereas these long-standing socio-economic tensions over dwindling arable land and water access are frequently instrumentalized by militant groups to inflame identity-based, ethnic, and religious animosities;

Denounces the ongoing violence in parts of Nigeria, which affects many communities, including Christians, and condemns the repeated attacks, killings, kidnappings, forced displacement and destruction of churches and Christian communities;

whereas retaliatory violence is fueled by structural failures in local intelligence, absence of independent accountability, lack of an effective local judicial system, unregulated vigilante groups, and the erosion of socio-economic resilience among rural youth, leaving them vulnerable to recruitment by militant groups;

Calls on the Nigerian Federal Government to launch an independent investigation into the Kawel massacre, to identify and prosecute those responsible and to ensure justice for the victims;

Strongly condemns all violence perpetrated against civilians in Kawel and the wider Middle Belt, particularly deploring the disproportionate impact on women and girls, explicitly denouncing the alarming rise in targeted abductions and kidnapping for ransom;

Urges the Nigerian authorities to strengthen security and ensure effective protection for Christian and other vulnerable communities at risk of repeated attacks;

Expresses deepest condolences to the victims' families and solidarity with those affected and displaced;

Supports efforts to set-up a meaningful and inclusive national dialogue to tackle the ongoing violence across multiple regions and underlines the need to address the socio-economic factors that are linked to these attacks;

Urges Nigerian federal and state authorities to conduct a thorough, transparent, and independent investigation into the Kawel massacre to bring perpetrators to justice and break the culture of impunity;

Calls on the Nigerian authorities to uphold freedom of religion or belief, guarantee equal protection of all citizens, and ensure that Christians are able to worship freely and safely without fear of violence or intimidation;

Calls upon the Nigerian Government to remedy intelligence failures, improve early-warning sharing, strengthen state-led civilian protection, invest in regional mediation, and implement sustainable land-management policies to address ecological drivers while respecting the rights and security of all local communities;

Calls for increased EU support for victims of religious persecution and calls to prioritise the protection of freedom of religion or belief in the EU’s political dialogue with Nigeria;

Reaffirms its unwavering commitment to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion; recalls the state’s obligation to ensure the equality before the law of all citizens and the full, non-discriminatory respect for all places of worship and religious sites;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the VP/HR, and the Government and Parliament of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Rejects the reductive and oversimplified classification of this multi-layered crisis, emphasizing that its causes stem from geopolitical and systemic drivers rooted in endemic poverty, lack of stable livelihoods, and socio-economic marginalization, and strongly opposes the instrumentalization of religion to fuel, escalate, or brutalize conflicts;

Calls on the Commission and the EEAS to intensify conflict-mediation efforts and urges the international community to increase humanitarian assistance to address hunger and malnutrition crises, expressing deep concern that severe food insecurity in Nigeria has risen to 36.2 million people, exceeding previous alarming estimates;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Government and Parliament of Nigeria, the AU, and EU institutions.