Christian organisations will call on the government to introduce a special envoy for freedom of religion to combat the violent attacks against Christians around the world.

The Religious Liberty Commission's first call for action will be for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to act to end the "religious cleansing" across the world.

The Commission will be launched on Wednesday by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, who will make a keynote address at the launch, noting the "alarming increase" in the persecution of Christians in the birthplace of the faith, the Middle East.

In the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft at the Palace of Westminster, the RLC - a commission of the Evangelical Alliance - comprising Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Open Doors UK and Release International, will insist that the department for international development make religious freedom a strategic priority.

Leaders of the RLC are expected to say the rate that Christians are being persecuted around the world is "alarming".

They will say the situation is "too important for the world to ignore".

These groups, which have been working for decades to raise awareness of persecution issues worldwide, will be collaborating under the banner: 'One voice for the persecuted Church.'

For more information about the Religious Liberty Commission, click here.