I think the concerns on both fronts are very well founded. Obviously the concern about violence, physical safety, and security is paramount. The fact that so many Coptic Christians have been attacked and so many killed, often in or around their places of worship, is wholly and entirely unacceptable. But that this happens in the wider context of discrimination, including measures that make it very difficult to maintain places of worship, is part of a wider pattern, obviously, that leaves a religious community very much under siege. I think the international community needs to be attentive to all aspects of the ways in which Coptic Christians are experiencing abuses, clearly pressing for measures to be taken to respond to the physical attacks, but also these other kinds of law reform and other initiatives that need to go forward to make sure that religious freedom is truly able to flourish.
On December 6th, 2011. See this statement in context.