Essay: The desperate plight of Yazidis and Christians in Iraqi Kurdistan did not end with the defeat of IS
ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, says we cannot simply assume that the plight of Christians, Yazidis and others ended with the defeat of IS in the region in 2017…
Confronting the past: Two decades after Saddam’s fall, Iraqis still haunted by disappearances
CHARLOTTE BRUNEAU, of Reuters, reports from Iraq, a country which has one of the highest numbers of missing persons in the world…
UN experts: Islamic State committed genocide against Yazidis
United NationsAP The head of a UN team investigating atrocities in Iraq announced Monday it has found “clear and compelling evidence” that Islamic State extremists committed genocide against the Yazidi minority in 2014 and said the militant group successfully developed chemical weapons and used mustard gas. Karem Khan told the Security Council the team also […]
Essay: The Pope’s Iraq visit will make headlines. Can it make life better for religious minorities?
In an article first published on Religion News Service, KNOX THAMES, a former special adviser for religious minorities at the US Department of State, looks at the hopes of religious minorities around Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Iraq…
PERSECUTION: TRUMP AIMS TO PROTECT CHRISTIANS BUT SOME AREN’T SURE HE’S HELPING
With the plight of religious minorities around the world in the spotlight following last week’s US State Department summit on the issue, JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, reports on claims by some advocates and experts that the Trump administration’s policies have, for some, made their situation worse…
“It’s time to be real: what happens in Iraq is ethnic cleansing” – UK analyst
World Watch Monitor What Iraq’s Christians want from the West is to say the plain truth: that there is ethnic cleansing of Christians in the region and it is ongoing, Dr Tim Stanley told a meeting at the UK’s parliament last week. The historian and columnist, working for UK daily newspaper The Telegraph, just returned from […]
France to help formerly captive Yazidis after meeting with Nobel winner Murad
Thomson Ruters Foundation The president of France has agreed to take in 100 formerly enslaved Yazidi women after meeting with Nadia Murad, a survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner, supporters said on Friday, saying the honour helps strengthen her fight for fellow Yazidis. France said it would help resettle the women who had been held […]
UN must recognise persecution of Christians in Middle East as genocide, says human rights group
World Watch Monitor The European Centre for Law and Justice is appealing to the United Nations to recognise the persecution of Christians in Iraq and Syria as “genocide”, reports the US-based National Review. The ECLJ, an affiliate of the American Center for Law and Justice, said a “genocide” declaration is necessary to ensure victims are given […]
IRAQ: REBUILDING WITH AMERICAN FUNDS, MINORITY RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES STILL AWAIT SECURITY
JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, reports…
Call for UN to establish international day for victims of religious persecution
World Watch Monitor Local priest Father Daniel shows one of the many houses destroyed by Islamic State in the Iraqi town of Bashiqa, near Mosul, where Christians are slowly returning. PICTURE: Courtesy of Open Doors International. The United Nations should establish an International Day Commemorating the Victims and Survivors of Religious Persecution, say parliamentarians in […]