I have been the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) for a year now now – so a lot of reports about violations of FoRB have reached me. Accounts of people losing their homes, jobs, livelihoods, freedom, even their lives, simply on account of what they believe. So, you would think that I might be inured to accounts of suffering.

However, I can say without hesitation that the report last month from Aid to the Church in Need, Hear Her Cries, moved me more than any other I have read.

After I had finished reading it, I just sat and cried, reading accounts from brave women of their kidnapping, forced conversion, sexual victimisation and unimaginable suffering.