In some European territories sharia law is applied, challenging human rights. Greek Muslims in Western Thrace use sharia judicial power to rule on disputes concerning inheritance. Muslims can choose between a mufti or Greek courts. In the UK, the ‘Islamic Sharia Council’ is an independent arbitration tribunal issuing private law decisions and able to grant Islamic divorces. These divorces may also be included in a civil procedure. There are believed to be some thirty sharia councils, affiliated to local mosques. In Russia’s Northern Caucasus: family and property matters are usually judged under sharia law under the guise of ‘tradition’. Women and girls are victims of violence and discriminatory practices such as early marriage, abduction for forced marriage, ‘honour’ killings, female genital mutilation and polygamy, despite the provisions of Russian federal law. In Turkey Muslim religious education is compulsory in schools. The government publicly favours a Muslim viewpoint, linking Turkish nationality with Sunni Islam.

Millions are fleeing tyranny of war, famine, and heartache in the largest movement of people in modern history since WWII. For most, Europe offers the only hope of safety, and many risk the very real threat of death on their journeys. Often these people are seen as a problem, and while our enemy can use people to kill, steal, and destroy, God sees each one as a unique and loved creation. Christian mission agencies working in refugee camps and across Europe want to introduce each refugee to the God who loves them. Meanwhile many European countries are rejecting them, the latest being the Dutch government who refused to accept 47 refugees currently on a ship run by a humanitarian group who rescued them off the Libyan coast over a week ago. Since then it has been sailing through high winds and seven metre-high waves.

Fear of renewed attacks by Boko Haram is prompting the exodus of 30,000+ people from the town of Rann. UNHCR spokesman Babar Baloch told reporters in Geneva on 29 January that the town's population ‘seems to be panicking; they are on the run as a pre-emptive measure to save their lives.’ Rann, near the border with Cameroon in northern Borno state, has already seen an exodus of 9,000 people to Cameroon after a Boko Haram attack on 14 January, killing 14 people. Baloch said that Cameroon had sent back the 9,000 refugees, and initially deployed troops as part of a multinational task force to protect the town, but that task force has now left. A recent upsurge in violence in northeastern Nigeria has driven more than 80,000 civilians to seek refuge in already crowded camps or in towns in Borno state, ‘where they are surviving in tough living conditions’. The hostilities have strained humanitarian operations there and forced aid workers to pull out from some locations.

With their country in turmoil, both Nicolás Maduro and Juan Guaidó claim to be president, and neither has any incentive to back down. Guaidó has huge popular support, and is backed by many western powers (including the EU), but has little control over the levers of power. Although Maduro is still backed by allies such as Russia, Turkey, and Cuba, he is under unprecedented international pressure. Military top brass still support him, but there have been defections by junior officers. If he is to survive, he will need to keep the army loyal, which means finding a way to keep the ordinary soldiers paid. Another solution - but not one that would benefit ordinary people - is a military coup, but that might well mean a return to kleptocracy, mismanagement and authoritarianism. In any case, a change at the top would not placate the opposition, now emboldened and set on restoring democracy. Maduro has nothing to gain and everything to lose from stepping down, as he would probably be called to account for his authoritarian rule. Guaidó has promised an amnesty for any members of the armed forces who ‘contribute to the reestablishment of democratic order’. Another possibility, even if very unlikely, would appear to be outright conflict with the USA. Donald Trump, who publicly supports Guaidó, has just imposed sanctions on the country’s state-owned oil company.