REP. ANNA ESHOO URGES SUPPORT OF IRAQI RELIGIOUS
DIVERSITY
The amendment passed unanimously!
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For Immediate Release
July 20, 2005
ESHOO URGES SUPPORT OF IRAQI RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
Encourages U.S. backing of indigenous Christian population
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) today offered an amendment to
H.R. 2601, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, to protect
indigenous Christians in Iraq from continuing religious persecution
and political exclusion. The amendment unanimously passed the
House by a voice vote.
"Iraqi Christians welcome the opportunity to move beyond
the days of repression and persecution," said Eshoo. "They
wish nothing more than to be able to fully cooperate and participate
in the development of a democratic, pluralistic state, and the
commitment provided by this amendment gives them great promise."
Eshoo's amendment urges the departments and agencies of the
U.S. Government to pay special attention to the welfare of ChaldoAssyrians
- an ancient population that predates current Iraqi inhabitants
- and other Iraqi Christians, including Chaldeans, Jacobites,
Armenians, Assyrians, and Greek Orthodox Christians, who have
been the subject of great harassment and intimidation even after
the fall of Saddam Hussein. The amendment also calls on the President
and his administration to work with the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) to dedicate funding for
the promotion of welfare and education, as well as the resettlement
for these minority groups in Iraq.
"These groups receive a disproportionately small share
of the reconstruction and developmental resources available,
which in turn has spurred the emigration of as many of 80,000
Iraqi Christians since liberation."
Despite the huge number of Iraqi Christians who have fled
the region, there are approximately 1 to 1.5 million Christians
remaining in Iraq. They primarily reside in the Nineveh Plain
in the north near Mosul, in villages that can trace their history
back over 2,000 years.
"ChaldoAssyrians and other native Iraqi Christians are
not only being ostracized and repressed, they are also being
kept from their homes," said Eshoo. "Protecting the
rights of minority groups and ensuring that all individuals in
Iraq - regardless of religious affiliation or ethnic background
- are given the tools they need to succeed, is critical to establishing
a fully-functioning and sustainable democracy."
Congresswoman Eshoo has served in the House of Representatives
since 1993. She is currently the only Assyrian-American member
of Congress.
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Please find the complete floor statement below.
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Statement of Rep. Anna Eshoo
In support of the Eshoo Amendment to H.R. 2601, the Foreign
Relations Authorization Act for FY 2006 and 2007
July 20, 2005
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer an amendment expressing
the Sense of the Congress that our government should recognize
the unique challenges facing Iraq's indigenous Christian communities,
including the Chaldeans, Jacobites, Armenians, Assyrians, and
Greek Orthodox Christians.
I'm a first generation American, of Assyrian and Armenian
descent. My grandparents fled their ancestral homeland in the
early part of the 20th Century. In fact, my mother received her
first communion in Baghdad in 1919.
I'm the only Assyrian-American serving in Congress today,
and only the second to serve here in our nation's history. The
first was Congressman Adam Benjamin of Indiana, who passed away
at a young age in 1982.
There are approximately 250,000 Assyrian-Americans in the
United States, representing the largest population of Chaldo-Assyrians
outside Iraq. All Chaldo-Assyrians are Christian, and because
they are, they've been subjected to brutal persecution in their
homeland.
Today, there are 1 to 1.5 million Christians remaining in
Iraq, mainly in the Nineveh plain in the North around Mosul.
They live in villages that can trace their history back over
2,000 years, a large number of which, because of their geography,
have now come under the authority of the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Among indigenous Iraqi Christians, the Chaldeans represent
the oldest rite under Rome. Along with Assyrians who worship
within the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East,
they represent the oldest surviving Christian population in the
world and one that without help during this critical transition
period, could be on the brink of extinction.
These communities have welcomed the opportunity before them
since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime to move toward greater
prosperity and stability by cooperating in the development of
a democratic, pluralistic state.
Unfortunately, religious and ethnic tensions, as well as discrimination
continue to plague these Christian communities. I continue to
receive troubling reports from religious leaders indicating that
Iraq's Christian population is not receiving their fair share
of development assistance.
Because they are such a small minority, the indigenous Iraqi
Christian population has one independently elected ChaldoAssyrian
in the entire Iraqi National Assembly, Younadam Kanna, a man
whom I've met with and hold in high regard. Within the Kurdistan
Regional Government in Northern Iraq, representatives from Iraqi
Christian communities hold only 5 out of 105 seats.
Because the Assyrian community is a very small minority in
Iraq with one representative in national politics, funding for
reconstruction, housing and education are parceled out to those
who control the villages and regions where they reside, without
sufficient transparency to ensure the proper parity.
The visible result of these misallocations has been the emigration
of as many as 80,000 Iraqi Christians since the fall of Saddam
Hussein's regime alone. The majority of these individuals, approximately
50,000, have fled to Syria, while others have spread out to Jordan,
the Gulf Emirates, and Turkey, all living in desperate circumstances
as refugees from their homes. This ongoing exodus is deeply disturbing,
and unless action is taken now to address the pressing needs
of these indigenous Christians, we may well witness the complete
loss of the Iraqi indigenous Christian community.
If a fully-functioning and sustainable democracy is to emerge
in Iraq, the basic rights and needs of all minority groups must
be safeguarded.
My amendment seeks to affirm that commitment by ensuring that
all relevant U.S. government agencies and departments pay special
attention to the needs of this minority and ensure that they
will continue to reside and thrive in their ancestral homeland.
Many of my Colleagues are aware of the targeting of Iraqi
Churches by the insurgents which was reported on the front page
of the New York Times last August as another attempt to divide
the Iraqi people and further drive Iraq's Christian population
from their homes. I'm grateful to our military who are trying
to provide security for these communities under attack.
I also want to bring to my Colleagues' attention another report
published in yesterday's San Francisco Chronicle. The headline
is "Iraqi Christians find safety in Syria, Religious violence
prompted many to flee homeland," and I ask unanimous consent
that this report be entered into the record. Dated just yesterday,
it details this pressing problem in tragic detail, and is a clear
indicator that this is a problem that requires our fullest attention.
I urge my colleagues to support my amendment and I reserve
the balance of my time.
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