DAVID ADAMS reports on calls for the needs of minorities in Iraq and Syria to be taken into account…
Removing the terror group Islamic State from communities in Iraq and Syria will not, on its own, secure their return or ensure their long-term wellbeing, a new report has warned.
The warning is contained in a report – The Protection Needs of Minorities from Syria and Iraq – which was based on interviews with 4,000 displaced people and refugees. It was released in Norway late last month by the World Council of Churches and Norwegian Church Aid.
“[T]he eventual defeat of IS alone will not solve these underlying dangers or ensure that minorities return to their place of origin.”
– The Protection Needs of Minorities from Syria and Iraq
THE CHRISTIANS
IS attacked at four in the morning. In the small village of Tel Hermes, only men stayed behind to try to defend it. The elderly had also stayed behind. Now IS dragged everyone out in their pyjamas. Of around 30 men, half were killed. One of them was electrician Fouad Younan. The rest of the family had departed for Homs 20 days before. For eight months the family had no news about their father. Now, the Assyrian Christian family lives in an apartment in Beirut. All they have to remind them of their father is a photograph. Before the war, life felt secure and good in the countryside. There were no problems about being Assyrian Christian, says mother Lina. Daughters Olivia, Eva and Vivian remember the good times with their father. That they went swimming in the river. They remember the green, beautiful village where everyone knew each other. Olivia misses her friends from the Conservatory of Music where she studied. “They were my happiest days”, she says. “Students came from all over Syria, now they’re all scattered”. The family, which now consists only of women, is worried about the future. They have no problems in their neighborhood in Beirut. They attend church services every Sunday. The two oldest sisters work now and again in a minimarket. But their future is in Australia, where many from the Assyrian community have travelled. An uncle and cousin already live in Melbourne. The family hopes that sometime in the future they will be able to go to the village where Fouad is buried. They weren’t able to go to their father’s and Lina’s husband’s funeral. They just have pictures that people sent them.
THE YAZIDIS
Women walk slowly around in their sanctuary at Lalesh. Some have their children with them. They have been collected from the refugee camp to go to the Yazidis’ holy place, in the mountains of northern Iraq, some distance from Dohuk. All are quiet to begin with, and everyone makes sure not to tread on the doorstep to the temple. Their shoes have been left in the cars quite some distance away. After a while, their mood brightens. Lunch is biryani, chicken and rice with vegetables. Afterwards, the children start to play and laugh. The women have experienced unspeakable things during their IS captivity. They have been kept as sex slaves and have been tortured. They are called “survivors”. NCA’s local partner, Yazda, arranges the trips to the temple. Pretty soon after escaping from their slavery, the survivors make their way here. The visit is a cleansing ritual after the horrors they have gone through. They are accepted again by society afterwards. The priests say publicly that women are in no way responsible for the atrocities, and that society must accept them as they are: mothers, daughters and sisters.
THE SUNNI MUSLIMS:
Madeline, 14, and sister Sabrine, 16, are both paralysed in their legs. “They were paralysed by shock. Something happened to their nervous system”, says father Mohammad. The family was caught in the crossfire in Daraa, in southern Syria. Son Louay, three, was killed by a bomb. That’s when they decided to flee. Bombs were constantly falling during their flight. On 27th August, 2013, they arrived in Lebanon, and they now live in a camp at Bar Elias in the Bekaa Valley. They want to emigrate. “The girls are traumatised, but we’re getting no help here”, says their father. “We have peace and security, but no future, here”, says his wife Rehab, 36. They attended asylum interviews four months ago. “Before the war, life was easy”, says Madeline. “I loved playing with my friends. I miss them. I miss running around with them”. At present, Mohammad manages to carry Madeline around, but three days ago he received the results of tests carried out after he complained of stomach pains. He has cancer.
Despite previous claims of hostility between different groups in Syria, the report’s survey did not find evidence of “deeply ingrained sectarian feeling” prior to the outbreak of conflict in Syria in 2011 (in fact the NCA-led survey found evidence of “generally widespread religious tolerance among people” prior to the 2011 crisis). But it found a very different situation in Iraq before the arrival of IS in 2014.
Noting estimates that some 70 per cent of Iraq’s Christians have left Iraq since 2003, leaving just 250,000 in the country, it says that even before IS had seized territory in Iraq, there had already been “significant migration of minorities from Iraq because of marginalisation and persecution”, including, in the period between 2003 and 2014, everything from destruction and defacement of religious buildings through to mass murder, abductions, and forced conversions through death threats, rape and forced marriage.
“In this regard, the eventual defeat of IS alone will not solve these underlying dangers or ensure that minorities return to their place of origin,” the report warns. “Especially in Iraq, the process of driving IS away sets in motion power struggles between larger sectarian groups – exactly the type of social tension that exacerbates the vulnerability of religious minorities. Ongoing internal politicking and unresolved problems of disputed territories further exacerbate the difficulties minorities in returning to certain areas of Iraq. “
Noting the “immense” impact of the conflicts in Syria and Iraq on humanitarian needs of all people in Iraq and Syria, the report also calls for the humanitarian response to take greater account of the diversity of religious minority groups in both nations.
“There are nuanced differences between groups’ humanitarian needs and how best to meet those needs, in terms of the nature, targeting and delivery of assistance,” it says. “Those differences also reflect whether a minority group has been directly targeted during the conflict, its past experience of persecution and discrimination, its level of political power or influence and its beliefs and cultural norms.”
The report’s writers say humanitarian agencies haven’t always been able to adequately grasp the needs of the various groups affected by the conflict in the two countries and that “problems caused by insecurity in refugee/displacement camps and people’s inability to access assistance because of fear, lack of confidence or other barriers has sometimes been overlooked”.
“In some cases, aid prioritisation and beneficiary criteria have inadvertently resulted in excluding certain groups, providing breeding ground for resentment, discrimination and tensions between groups.”
It says that while humanitarian agencies increasingly understand the differing needs and approaches required to support people in different age groups and genders, protecting religious minorities also be considered as part of any humanitarian response strategy to the situation in Iraq and Syria, particularly through an “age, gender and diversity” approach.
“Given the history of persecution and conflict experienced by religious minorities, future reconciliation and peaceful relationships between different faith groups requires dealing with the trauma and suffering of the past. It also requires facilitating and sharing positive and hopeful examples of coexistence and mutual support between people of different faiths.”
The report contains numerous short and long-term recommendations to help this come about including greater flexibility in how humanitarian funding can be used, ensuring the provision of cultural, age and gender-sensitive psycho-social support services for all, and supporting community and faith leaders and initiatives that promote religious tolerance and encourage peaceful relations among religious groups.
Speaking at the release of the report, Marit Berger Røsland, state secretary in the Norway Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the situation of vulnerable minorities in Syria and Iraq is “a matter of great concern and we need better understanding and knowledge of the situation”.
Rev Dr Olav Fyske Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, noted that diversity was a “treasure of human society, and a key component for social dynamism and progress”, adding that “[i]t must be the key purpose of the international community and all people of good will to restore, encourage and sustain hope in the hearts and minds of the people whose hope in the future has been so diminished
He said vulnerable communities referred to as “minorities” in the report such as Yazidis and Christians were “not happy” at that reference, adding that they see themselves as part of the social fabric and were in the region “in ancient times even before the religious map” that is drawn today.
