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Christian Solidarity International

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Christian Solidarity International
AbbreviationCSI
Formation1977; 47 years ago (1977)
TypeNon-governmental organization
PurposeHuman rights of Christians
HeadquartersZurich, Switzerland
Region served
Worldwide
Leaders
John Eibner
Websitecsi-int.org

Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is a Christian NGO based in Switzerland, with affiliates in the United States, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, and South Korea.[1]

History

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CSI was founded in 1977 in Switzerland by Reverend Hansjürg Stückelberger.[2]

In the 1990s, several groups broke away from the central CSI organization and became independent NGOs. These splinter groups include International Christian Concern, founded by Steve Snyder in 1995,[3][4] Christian Solidarity Worldwide, founded by Baroness Caroline Cox in 1997,[4] and Christian Freedom International, founded by Jim Jacobson in 1998.[5]

CSI's participation in slave liberation efforts in Sudan has received criticism. In 1999, UNICEF called the practice of buying slaves to free them "intolerable," saying that it was not a "lasting solution" to the slavery problem and faulting it for implicitly accepting that human beings can be purchased. UNICEF also said that paying money for slaves provided combatants in the war with cash for buying weapons.[6] Human Rights Watch stated that buying back slaves might provide a "monetary incentive" for further slave raiding and warned of the "risk of fraud in the redemption process.[7] " In 2002, a United States State Department report on the issue declared, "As a matter of principle, no person holding another who has been abducted or enslaved should be paid to secure that person's release. ...we believe that some legitimate concerns about this practice have been raised.[8]" Other critics agree that the campaign "encourages the taking of slaves" and "reduces the incentive for owners to set them free without payment" (The New York Times),[9] or "undercuts" the "battle against slavery" (Richard Miniter for The Atlantic).[10] CSI responded to UNICEF's 1999 critique by claiming that it never brought American dollars into the warzone, and redeemed slaves only with Sudanese pounds to decrease the potential for fueling the arms trade.[6]

In 1999, at the request of the Government of Sudan, the United Nations revoked CSI's status as a consultative NGO after it allowed the southern Sudanese leader John Garang to represent it before the Commission on Human Rights.[11] An opinion piece in The New York Times by A. M. Rosenthal described the revocation as a "piece of nastiness" that amounted to "permitting a slave-taking nation to stifle an organization that struggles for slave-freeing”.[12]

In response to the Darfur genocide, CSI helped to launch the "Sudan Campaign" in the summer of 2004, along with Freedom House, the Institute for Religion and Democracy, and number of left-wing activists. The Sudan Campaign led an effort to get multinational corporations and pension funds to divest from Sudan, and staged a civil disobedience program which involved a number of prominent civil rights leaders and human rights activists being arrested at the Sudanese embassy in Washington DC.[13]

In 2008, journalist Charles Sennott wrote that CSI was "overreacting to events in the Middle East" in its campaign to save Iraqi Christians.[14] In 2009, CSI published a study of the abduction and forced marriage of young Christian Coptic girls by Muslim families.[15]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ [1] Archived 30 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine About CSI page on group's official website.
  2. ^ "CSI About". About CSI. Archived from the original on 22 April 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2012.
  3. ^ "Who We Are « Persecution of Christians & Persecuted Churches". Persecution.org. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 10 June 2011.
  4. ^ a b "Persecution of Christians & Persecuted Churches". Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  5. ^ "Christian Freedom International: Bringing Hope to the Persecuted of Burma" (PDF). Persecution of Christians & Persecuted Churches. Capital Research Center. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 August 2013. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  6. ^ a b Lewis, Paul (12 March 1999). "U.N. Criticism Angers Charities Buying Sudan Slaves' Release". The New York Times.
  7. ^ "HRW Background Paper on Slavery and Slavery Redemption in the Sudan". Human Rights Watch.
  8. ^ "Slavery, Abduction and Forced Servitude in Sudan" (PDF). Report of the International Eminent Persons Group.
  9. ^ "Redemption of Sudanese Slaves". The New York Times. The New York Times. 27 April 2001. Retrieved 14 October 2015.
  10. ^ MINITER, RICHARD (July 1999). "The False Promise of Slave Redemption". The Atlantic. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
  11. ^ "NGO loses consulative [sic] status with economic and social council". UN.
  12. ^ Rosenthal, A.M. (3 September 1999). "When is it News?". The New York Times.
  13. ^ Hertzke, Allen. "The Shame of Darfur".
  14. ^ Sennott, Charles. "Anti-Christian Violence sparks exodus from Iraq". Global Post.
  15. ^ Shanahan, Angela (21 May 2011). "No going back for Egypt's converted Copts". The Australian. Archived from the original on 23 August 2011. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
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