Attacks on Christians have been on the rise in Indonesia according to a report from Human Rights Watch.

HRW’s report, researched over a year between August 2011 and December 2012, showed that the government has made little attempt to stop Islamic extremists from taking violent action against Christians in the nation. The report states “harassment and intimidation of minority communities by militant Islamist groups has been facilitated by the active or passive involvement of Indonesian government officials and security forces”.

The nation’s blasphemy law which is geared toward the benefit of Islam is seen as a major driving factor in the government’s ignoring of acts against non-Islam religions.

The Islamic government in the nation rejected the report claiming that “religious harmony is strong” in the nation. They said that in many of the report’s listed incidents, the cause of the conflict had nothing to do with religion.

“We noted that a few violations happened, but please don’t generalise that intolerance has increased in Indonesia,” Secretary General of Indonesia’s Religious Affairs Ministry Bahrul Hayat said.