British Politicians Urge Support for Iraqi Christians’ Autonomy

New hope to the Assyrian Christians in Iraq has been revealed after a series of conferences within the international community. Under unbearable persecution by groups of Islamic extremists, the Assyrian Christian are now fighting hard for the international support of an administrative region for their people. A number of British politicians and human rights campaigners have voiced their request to the British government to reach out a helping hand to the vulnerable community in Iraq.

Ever escalating attacks against the Iraq Assyrian Christian community have ranged from church bombings, to beheadings and even the burning of civilians over the last six months, all of which have caused enormous panic throughout the community. The mass exodus of over 40,000 Assyrian Christians to neighbouring countries has raised great international concern.

From the Middle Eastern American Convention for Freedom and Democracy on 1st October, the Assyrians called for an administrative area in the Nineveh Plain to help establish a secure environment as a “Safe Haven” for internally displaced and threatened Assyrians, as well as a fair allocation of reconstruction resources necessary to increase the capacity of the region to absorb the influx of new refugees. The proposal received great support recently.

According to Iraq’s Transitional Administrative Law, Article 53 states, “This law shall guarantee the administrative, cultural and political rights of the Turcomans, ChaldoAssyrians and all other citizens.” The Assyrians do have the right to administer their own region.

Nevertheless, the creation of this autonomous region still has a long way to go to being completed. In light of the continued violence in Iraq targeted on Christians, the foremost priority for Assyrian Christian leaders remains security.

John Michael, the British representative of the Assyrian Democratic Movement, Iraq’s leading Christian political party, stressed the importance of ensuring that the Assyrians are given proper protection.

The Church of England Newspaper reported a meeting in the House of Commons. Mr Michael said, “If the international community, specifically the governments of the USA and UK, want peace, stability and democracy to prevail in Iraq, thus spreading throughout the Middle East, then the security and continued presence of the ChaldoAssyrians in their ancestral home must be guaranteed.”

Stephen Pound, Labour MP for Ealing North, said, “by meeting today we not only raised the issue in the British Parliament but also sent a strong signal of support and solidarity to this persecuted minority.”

Jubilee Campaign, a Christian human rights organisation, led the calls for financial support for the resettlement of Assyrian refugees and appealed for the reconstruction of Assyrian villages and infrastructure.