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Situation for Iraq’s religious groups
improves, but still face many difficulties
8.5.2012
By Joel Wing — ekurd.net |
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May 8, 2012
On May 1, 2012, the United Nations
representative to Iraq, Martin Kobler called for
the protection of Iraq’s Yazidi community. This
came after Kobler met with the spiritual leader
of the group within Iraq, Baba Sheikh, in Ninewa
province. When the insurgency was going strong,
and the country was wrought with civil war, many
outside observers were afraid that the Yazidis,
and Iraq’s other minorities, such as Christians
and Sabean Mandeans would disappear due to a
steady stream of attacks by militants. Since the
sectarian war ended in 2008, there is far less
religious based violence, but Iraq’s minorities
are still at risk. The United States Commission
on International Religious Freedom highlighted
this in its annual report. In March 2012, the
Commission’s yearly study noted that there are
still attacks upon Iraq’s minorities, and
sectarian tensions, but that the situation is
improving.
The report started with Christians who still
face violence. In 2003, there were 800,000-1.4
million Christians in Iraq of various sects.
Those included Chaldean Catholics, Assyrian
Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East followers,
Syriac Catholics and Orthodox, Armenian
Catholics and Orthodox, Protestants, and
Evangelicals. Today, there are an estimated
500,000 left. It’s believed that 50% of the
communist has fled the country. Christians use
to be regularly targeted by militants, who
considered them co-religionists of the
Americans, and therefore fair game. Today, those
attacks have greatly declined, but they have not
ended.
In January 2011, three liquor stores and a
Christian social club were vandalized and robbed
in Baghdad. This involved either local police,
or people wearing police uniforms. In April,
during Easter, a bomb exploded outside the
Sacred Heart Church in Baghdad, wounding four.
In August there was a car bombing of the Holy
Family Syriac Catholic Church in Kirkuk wounding
15, and a bomb near the St. Ephraim Syriac
Orthodox Church in Kirkuk that resulted in no
casualties. On both occasions, other bombs were
discovered and disarmed by the security forces
at other churches in those cities. In December
2011, a mob of Kurds attacked and burned
Christian owned business in the town of Zakho
and others in Dohuk province after Friday
prayers. Still, this was a marked decline from
previous years, and far less costly.
In October 2010 for instance, Al Qaeda in Iraq
attacked the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Syriac
Catholic Church in Baghdad in the worst attack
since the 2003 invasion. More than 50 people
were killed in the assault, and 60 wounded. It
led to a wave of Christians fleeing the capital
for northern Iraq. What’s more is that according
to a captured Al Qaeda member, these attacks are
not planned so much out of hatred of
Christianity by Muslim extremists, but rather to
garner international media coverage, because the
militants believe that attacking churches will
gain the attention of the West. This is a common
theme amongst the experience of Iraq’s
minorities, that they often find themselves
being used as pawns by much more powerful
forces.
Sabean Mandeans are another prominent religious
minority in Iraq. They are followers of John The
Baptist, and one of the smallest groups in the
country. In 2003, there were approximately
50,000-60,000 Mandeans in Iraq. By 2011 they
were down to 3,500-5,000. Because they can only
be born into the faith, and they are pacifists,
some worried that they faced extinction during
the heyday of fighting. In 2003 for instance,
175 Mandeans were killed, hundreds kidnapped,
threatened, attacked, raped, displaced, or
forced to convert to Islam. In comparison, in
2011, the Mandean Human Rights Group only
recorded two Mandeans killed in two separate
incidents, and two kidnapped for the year. Like
the Christians, Mandeans have also benefited
from the end of full-scale conflict within the
country. What once looked like a disappearing
group now has a chance to revive itself.
The earlier violence in the country led to a
mass migration of Christians and Mandeans moving
to Ninewa, the three Kurdish provinces, or
leaving the country altogether. A recent report
by the International Organization for Migration
found that for many Christians this movement is
not permanent. Many have left the north for
their original homes, because they could not
find work, aid or register their children for
school. At the same time, there were many who
were applying for visas to leave the country
altogether. There have also been reports of the
Kurdistan Regional Government manipulating and
abusing minorities. The Commission noted that
the Kurds are attempting to use the religious
groups in their attempt to annex the disputed
territories. They have interfered in their
voting, taken their land, based services upon
support for the Kurdish parties, forced them to
identify themselves as either Arabs or Kurds,
and blocked the creation of minority police
forces. Arab officials have been no better in
their treatment, and both sides have failed to
prevent attacks. At the same time, there has
been a push by some to form an autonomous region
for Christians in the Ninewa Plains. Neither
Baghdad nor the Kurdistan Regional Government
has listened to them however. As long as there
is violence or even the threat of it, minorities
will continue this migration back and forth, and
continue to be placed in the middle of the
struggle for the disputed areas.
2011 also saw sectarian attacks by insurgents,
and tensions between the Shiite and Sunni
communities. In January of that year, Shiite
pilgrims were targeted in Karbala during the
Arbayeen celebration. Two days of bombings that
month led to around 75 deaths and 200 wounded.
In July, three bombs struck Karbala that left
100 casualties. In September, militants hijacked
a bus in Anbar killing 22 Shiite pilgrims.
During Ashura in December, there were 28 deaths
and 78 wounded. Finally, in three days in
January 2012, there were a slew of attacks
again, against pilgrims heading for the holy
city of Karbala resulting in 134 killed, and 283
wounded. Militants also targeted their Sunni
brethren. On June 3, 2011, a suicide bomber
attacked a mosque in Tikrit during Friday
prayers. Another suicide bomber then blew
himself up at the hospital where the wounded
were taken. In total, 21 people were left dead,
and 70 injured. On August 15, gunmen from Al
Qaeda in Iraq assaulted a mosque in Anbar during
Ramadan, murdering seven members of the Sons of
Iraq. On August 28, a suicide bomber attacked
the Um al-Qura mosque,www.ekurd.net
the largest in Baghdad during Ramadan, killing
28. In an October 2011 poll, 75% of Sunnis
questioned felt like the government did not
treat them equally, and 60% said that they were
treated unfairly in society overall. Tensions
have also increased, because of the political
dispute between the Iraqi National Movement and
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law
list. That showed that both insurgents and
politicians were both guilty of using the
sectarian card to achieve their goals. Militants
hope to restart the sectarian war by attacking
Shiites and Sunnis, hoping that the two sides
will turn on each other. At the same time, Iraqi
parties have used sectarianism in their battles
with each other.
Amongst all the negative news, the Commission
had some positives to report. Minorities have
quotas set for them in elections, so that they
are assured of representation. In the 2010
parliamentary vote, eight seats were set aside
for minorities, five for Christians, and one
each for Mandeans, Shabaks, and Yazidis. Six
other Yazidi candidates won as part of the
Kurdish Coalition as well, creating a total of
14 minority lawmakers in the 325 seat
legislature. A minority caucus was also formed
for the first time, and is pushing for greater
representation and education about their
communities. While very small, the quotas do
assure that there are some minority lawmakers in
each session of parliament. They appear to
becoming more organized and active as well,
which will hopefully improve their situation
overall in Iraq.
Despite the improved security situation in Iraq,
the country has been placed on the Commission’s
Watch List since 2007, and on its “country of
particularly concern” list since 2008. That’s
because there are still attacks upon groups
based upon their religion, and sectarianism is
alive and well if for nothing else, but pure
political gain. At the same time, things are
improving in Iraq. The number of attacks upon
all religious groups is far down from what they
were in the past. That gives hope that Iraq’s
minorities can recover from the devastation that
they felt in the years immediately after the
overthrow of Saddam Hussein. For groups like the
Sabeans this could provide the breathing space
they need to rebuild and reproduce, so that they
will not completely disappear from Iraq. The
institutional discrimination and manipulation
that minorities face at the hands of Arabs and
Kurds however in northern Iraq will not end.
That means even with things getting better in
the country, there will still be many
difficulties facing its minorities.
SOURCES
Aswat al-Iraq, “UNAMI representative calls to
protect minorities’ rights,” 5/1/12
Al Dulaimy, Mohammed and Bengali, Shashank,
“With U.S. forces set to go soon, Iraqi police
step up,” McClatchy Newspapers, 1/21/11
International Organization for Migration,
“Displacement Of Christians To The North Of
Iraq,” 1/31/12
Salaheddin, Sinan, “Al-Qaida in Iraq threatens
attacks on Christians,” Associated Press,
11/3/10
United States Commission on International
Religious Freedom, “Annual Report of the United
States Commission on International Religious
Freedom,” March 2012
- “Iraq Report – 2008,” December 2008
Joel Wing, with an MA in International Relations,
Joel Wing has been researching and writing about
Iraq since 2002. His acclaimed blog, Musings on
Iraq, is currently listed by the New York Times and
the World Politics Review. In addition, Mr. Wing’s
work has been cited by the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, the Guardian and the
Washington Independent. You may visit his Blog
Musings On Iraq at musingsoniraq.blogspot.com
Copyright © 2012 ekurd.net
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