from the National Council of Churches in Australia
“As both a coalition member and an influential member of the international community, Australia must do more to address the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and its neighbouring countries,” said the Revd John Henderson, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA).
The recent 6th National Forum of the NCCA, agreed to encourage member Churches “to pray for Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq”; and “to do whatever is in their power to urge the Australian Government and other governments to assist refugees, particularly Christians who have been singled out for persecution in the Middle East, by providing financial assistance and granting humanitarian and other visas.”
“Iraq is haemorrhaging. We must recognise that there is a grave and escalating humanitarian crisis to be addressed. Not since 1948 has the Middle East seen so many people forced to flee their homes,” said Mr Henderson.
While the mass displacement has emerged quietly and without fanfare, the numbers affected are in excess of what many agencies had predicted in 2003. Over 500,000 Iraqis have been displaced since the 2006 Samarra bombings with some 2-3,000 Iraqis leaving every day. There are now at least 2 million internally displaced Iraqis and another 2 million Iraqi refugees that have fled to neighbouring states. Moreover, this mass exodus shows no sign of abating.
Tomorrow, August 7, at 10:00 am Assyrian Christians and supporters will rally outside Parliament House, Canberra. Mr Henderson will join those speaking in support of a humanitarian response to this crisis, and call all Christians to pray for the displaced on Refugee & Migrant Sunday.
Each year, on the last Sunday in August, Churches in Australia celebrate Refugee and Migrant Sunday, a celebration of the contribution refugees and migrants have made in Australia. This year, the National Council of Churches in Australia is urging its member Churches to pray for Christians and other minorities being persecuted in Iraq. Copies of the Refugee and Migrant Sunday Kit are available by calling (02) 9299 2215.
Background: The Persecution of Iraq’s Christians
Accused of siding with coalition forces and being modern day crusaders, Iraq’s Christian population, has been increasingly targeted by extremists and insurgents. Church bombings, kidnappings, extortion, beheadings, rape and forced taxation for being non-Muslims have forced hundreds of thousands of Assyrians – together with other Christians – to abandon their ancestral land and flee to Jordan, Syria, Turkey and Lebanon.
Known also as Chaldeans and Syriacs, the Assyrian Christians once stood at over a million. Since 2003 many have been singled out for retribution because they worked for the UN prior to 2003 or for the US, who has made use of their skills and employed them as interpreters, construction workers, contractors and maids in the Green Zone and US bases. Many Assyrian liquor storeowners, hairdressers and music storeowners have been murdered.
Dora and other Assyrian neighbourhoods of Baghdad have been emptied. It is estimated that up to 150,000 Assyrians have fled as refugees to Jordan, but the exact number is unknown as Jordan has refused to acknowledge and register refugees until recently. Iraqi refugees fear being singled out and forcibly repatriated.
Saddam Hussein changed the Iraqi constitution in 1978, establishing that there were only two peoples in Iraq: Kurds and Arabs. The Assyrians were thus to be called Christian Kurds or Christian Arabs. Those who accepted it were tolerated, allowed to exercise their religion, culture and language freely. Those who opposed and wanted to maintain their Assyrian identity were accused of treason and risked death penalties. Assyrians in northern Iraq therefore joined the Kurdish opposition and fought together against the regime. Today the Assyrians have no allies and are safe nowhere in Iraq.
Iraq and the Escalating Regional Humanitarian Crisis - NCCA CWS Aug 2007
(a pdf file background document)
Minority Religious Groups in Iraq
Late Night Live, ABC Radio Australia - 21 August 2007
(interview begins approximately 12 minutes into the program)
For more information contact:
Debra Porter, NCCA Communications Officer, (02) 8259 0802 or 0427 789 410.
