[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1762 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 1762

 Condemning the anti-Christian violence that has occurred in Iraq and 
    has forced Iraqi Christians to flee their homes and communities.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 14, 2010

   Mr. Ackerman (for himself, Mr. Berman, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Johnson of 
Georgia, and Mr. Ellison) submitted the following resolution; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

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                               RESOLUTION


 
 Condemning the anti-Christian violence that has occurred in Iraq and 
    has forced Iraqi Christians to flee their homes and communities.

Whereas Iraq has been home to a native Christian population since the first 
        century A.D.;
Whereas the Iraqi Christian community includes a diversity of churches and 
        numbered as many as 1,000,000 in the early 1990s before the first 
        Persian Gulf War;
Whereas Iraqi Christians have historically suffered from official 
        discrimination, periods of persecution, and even massacres;
Whereas since 2003, Iraqi Christians have been particularly targeted by al Qaeda 
        in Mesopotamia and other violent Islamist militants for abduction, 
        torture, bombings, and murder;
Whereas Iraqi churches have been deliberately attacked in a wave of anti-
        Christian animus;
Whereas the Iraqi Christian population has been decimated, with Iraqi Christians 
        seeking refuge in other countries or in safer areas of Iraq;
Whereas Iraqi Christians are entitled to the protection of their government to 
        be secure in their homes, schools, and places of worship; and
Whereas all people are entitled to absolute freedom of conscience with regard to 
        their religious beliefs or lack thereof: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns in the strongest terms the anti-Christian 
        violence that has occurred in Iraq and has forced Iraqi 
        Christians to flee their homes and communities;
            (2) calls on the Government of Iraq to enhance its efforts 
        to guarantee the protection and survival in place of the 
        vulnerable Iraqi Christian population and all other Iraqi 
        religious minorities; and
            (3) urges the President and the Secretary of State to make 
        the protection of vulnerable minority groups in Iraq, including 
        Iraqi Christians, a priority in their discussions with Iraqi 
        leaders, and a central element in United States efforts on the 
        ground in Iraq.
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