Christian Minorities Under Attack Iraq and Egypt

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1 Christian Minorities Under Attack Iraq and Egypt Submitted to the Honorable Frank Wolf Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission House Foreign Affairs Committee Prepared Statement for the Record Thursday, January 20, 2011 NEW YORK OFFICE 333 Seventh Avenue13th FloorNew York, NY 10001Tel: Fax: WASHINGTON D.C. OFFICE100 Maryland Avenue, N.E.Suite 500Washington, DC 20002Tel: Fax: www.humanrig htsfirst.org Human Rights First is a non-profit advocacy organization based in the United States. It was founded in 1978 as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Right. We work to strengthen national and international laws and institutions, as well as the policies and practices of governments, companies, and other non-state actors, to advance human rights around the world. Background Sunday, October 31, 2010 proved to be one of the bloodiest days for Iraqi Christians since the American-led invasion. Donning suicide vests and armed with guns and grenades, members of the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-qaeda linked terrorist group, entered the Our Lady of Salvation Church in Baghdad. They took over 120 Christian worshippers hostage, a siege ensued and only after the sound of gunshots from the church, Iraqi officials decided to storm the building. When the dust settled, forty one churchgoers were dead and over seventy ended up wounded. The terrorist group responsible for the attack promised more violence against Christians and on Thursday, December 30, 2010, numerous bombs exploded in a predominantly Christian neighborhood in Baghdad. The attacks killed two people and injured dozens, leaving the Christian minority to question openly whether Iraq s government is doing enough to protect them and their rights. As a direct result, increasing numbers of religious minorities, including Christians, have fled in search of safe refuge to neighboring countries, such as Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. As of November 2010, a total of 197,996 refugees are currently registered with the UN Refugee Agency UNHCR in the region, while an unknown number of additional refugees have not registered, or let their registrations lapse. UNHCR recently reported that its offices in Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon are registering growing numbers of Iraqi Christian refugees. Over 35,000 Iraqi refugees registered with UNHCR in the region in 2010 alone. As further elaborated below, for many of these refugees, resettlement to third countries such as the United States offers the only long-term and sustainable solution. The gradual decline of plurality and diversity further engenders extremism within Iraq. This is a most dire situation.

2 In Egypt, hate-motivated violence against Christians with a different pattern is also erupting again. Just two days after the attacks in Baghdad, on January 1, 2011, there was a bombing outside a church in Alexandria, Egypt. At least 22 people were killed and many more wounded, sparking riots among Coptic Christians, police forces and Muslims. Although President Mubarak immediately condemned the attacks, his statements belied the fact that home grown extremism and the government s response to religious bigotry and anti-christian prejudice, have caused tensions to increase between Copts and Muslims. Human rights organizations in Egypt are questioning why Egypt s powerful security services have been unable to safeguard the security of its citizens. Where is the accountability for the perpetrators of the shooting in Nag Hammadi on January 6, 2010, killing six Copts and one Muslim? Where is the responsibility of the government supporters who have publicly engaged in threats and spreading inflammatory rhetoric against Christians? Copts have expressed their grievances about entrenched discriminatory practices such as underrepresentation in government and the security services, lack of access to jobs, the many obstacles to build churches and the prohibition to convert to Christianity, but to no avail. When the Egyptian government fails to act as an independent arbiter, the atmosphere of fear and distrust will continue to fuel the cycle of violence. Human rights and religious violence Human Rights First places the right to religious freedom within the larger human rights framework. In order to ensure the full and effective realization of substantive human rights provisions, States are also obligated to take necessary measures to enable all individuals under their jurisdiction to exercise those rights. Within the context of the horrific attacks against Christians in Iraq and the situation in Egypt, the right to life as well as the right to religious freedom, the right to association and the right to property are integrally connected. Where religious intolerance and extremism thrive, such as we are seeing in two different forms in Iraq and Egypt, governments have the responsibility to safeguard the lives and rights of members of the Christian communities. The attacks were not committed randomly: they were carefully planned and executed with the specific intent to murder a large number of Christians and inflict the greatest damage on Christian property. Hence, when Christians congregate to exercise their right to worship, governments have the duty to guarantee their safety, as well as the integrity of their holy sites, so as to fully substantiate their right to life, religion, and association. Policy Recommendations Human Rights First has long examined bias-driven violence, including acts motivated by xenophobia and racism, anti-semitism, homophobia, and intolerance against Muslims. Given a longstanding expertise in the field of bias-motivated violence, including acts motivated by religious intolerance, Human Rights First makes the following recommendations to the United States government to combat bias-motivated violence generally, including in Iraq and Egypt: 2 / 5

3 Press governments to make combating bias-motivated violence a priority, including by urging them to 1 : Acknowledge and condemn acts of bias-motivated violence whenever they occur by sending immediate, strong, public, and consistent messages that bias-motivated violence will be investigated thoroughly and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Strengthen enforcement and prosecute offenders by ensuring that those responsible for acts of bias-motivated violence are held accountable under the law, that the prosecution of such acts against any individuals is a priority for the criminal justice system. Monitor and report on hate crimes by maintaining official systems of monitoring and public reporting to provide accurate data for informed policy decisions to combat bias-motivated violence. Reach out to community groups by conducting outreach and education efforts to communities and civil society groups to reduce fear and assist victims, advance policecommunity relations, encourage improved reporting of acts of bias-motivated violence to the police, and improve the quality of data collection by law enforcement bodies. Speak out against intolerance. Political leaders, government and other officials serving in public office pledge: to refrain from using rhetoric that incites violence or promotes acts that curtail the enjoyment of rights; to speak out publicly and consistently to condemn such speech when it occurs; to build political consensus reaching out across political party lines to encourage speaking out. Advocate in Bilateral Relationships and Offer Technical Assistance Promote stronger government responses to bias-motivated violence through U.S. human rights reporting as well as through bilateral relationships of the United States, by: Maintaining strong and inclusive State Department monitoring and public reporting on antisemitic, racist and xenophobic, anti-muslim, homophobic, anti-roma, and other biasmotivated violence. In doing so, the government should consult with civil society groups while providing appropriate training for human rights officers and other relevant mission staff abroad. Raising incidents of bias-motivated violence with representatives of foreign governments and encouraging vigorous responses. 1 These recommendations are part of HRF s Ten-Point Plan for Combating Hate Crime, a full version of which is included in the appendix. 3 / 5

4 Offering appropriate technical assistance and other forms of cooperation, including training of police and prosecutors in investigating, recording, reporting, and prosecuting bias-motivated violence as well as translation of Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) materials on hate crimes. Organizing International Visitors Programs on combating bias-motivated violence for representatives of law enforcement, victim communities, human rights groups, and legal advocates. Expand funding and other support to build the capacity of civil society groups to combat biasmotivated violence, including by documenting cases and providing services to victims. Providing durable solutions for those who seek safe refuge. A subsequent problem associated with rising levels of religious violence is the fact that more and more Christians, along with many other vulnerable groups who face violence in Iraq, feel forced to flee their homes. Though Iraq s neighbors have generously hosted hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees, the majority of Iraqi refugees have no access to formal legal status or employment. Without these basic forms of protection, many of these refugees are unable to support their families and live at constant risk of arrest, detention and possible deportation. For these and other reasons, most Iraqi refugees have no hope of integrating in the region. Resettlement of these refugees to third countries such as the United States remains essential in providing Iraqi refugees with sustainable and longterm solutions to their displacement. The United States has significantly improved its efforts to address the needs of Iraq s refugees and displaced persons. After resettling only 202 and 1,608 Iraqi refugees in 2006 and 2007 respectively, over 18,000 Iraqi refugees have been resettled to the United States in 2009 and Yet a number of persistent processing problems cause significant delays which undermine the effectiveness of the U.S. resettlement program. As documented through Human Rights First research in the region, lengthy delays in leave Iraqis slated for U.S. resettlement languishing for months even years in countries where they have limited opportunities to support their families and some particularly those within Iraq continue to face life-threatening circumstances. Policy Recommendations Human Rights First s recently released report Living in Limbo: Iraqi Refugees and U.S. Resettlement, based on independent research and interviews with Iraqi refugees as well as government officials and UN staff, offers a series of recommendations to strengthen the U.S. resettlement program, including by ensuring timely and effective processing. Human Rights First therefore urges the U.S. Government to: 4 / 5

5 Ensure timely and effective processing of refugee resettlement and visa applications for Iraqis, specifically: 1. Reduce unnecessary delays in the security clearance process. The National Security Council should, together with the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security and intelligence agencies, improve the inter-agency security clearance procedure to enable security checks for refugees and U.S.-affiliated Iraqis to be completed accurately and without unnecessary delays within a set time period; 2. Develop and implement an emergency resettlement procedure for refugees facing imminent danger. The Department of State should continue to work with other relevant federal agencies to develop and implement a formal and transparent resettlement procedure for refugees who face emergency or urgent circumstances; 3. Remove other impediments which continue to delay the applications of U.S.-affiliated Iraqis and Iraqi religious minorities. The Department of State, working with other agencies, should in addition to addressing delays in security processing continue to take other steps to eliminate case backlogs and address inefficiencies in the current Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) processing procedures; 4. Provide information necessary for refugees to submit meaningful Requests for Reconsideration. The Department of Homeland Security s U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services should implement reforms to improve the fairness and effectiveness of the resettlement process, including by revising the current Notice of Ineligibility for Resettlement to provide case-specific factual and legal reasons for denial. Continue to support protection of Iraqi refugees in the Middle East: Strengthened engagement on Iraqi displacement: Retain and strengthen the role of the White House Senior Coordinator on Iraqi Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to ensure continued inter-agency cooperation, planning and improvements regarding all stages of Iraqi displacement, including resettlement, local integration and voluntary return and reintegration, as well as in the specialized programs established to resettle Iraqis who face persecution on account of their work with the United States. Ensure the Coordinator continues to convene regular meetings with federals agencies and civil society groups, as well as conducts missions to both the region and Iraq itself; Support protection of Iraqi refugees in the Middle East region; and Encourage and support host governments in the region to strengthen protection of refugees in the region, including by providing continued humanitarian assistance for Iraqi refugees, promoting access to formal employment, and urging that national authorities not detain Iraqi refugees solely on account of their illegal presence. 5 / 5