[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 322 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 322

  Expressing the sense of the Senate on religious minorities in Iraq.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 26, 2009

   Mr. Levin (for himself, Mr. Brownback, Mr. Durbin, and Mr. Lugar) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

                             August 5, 2010

   Committee discharged; considered, amended, and agreed to with an 
                            amended preamble

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
  Expressing the sense of the Senate on religious minorities in Iraq.

Whereas the territory of Iraq, the land of Mesopotamia, has millennia of rich 
        cultural and religious history;
Whereas the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians thrived within what are now 
        the borders of Iraq;
Whereas the biblical patriarch Abraham was born in Ur, King Hammurabi ruled from 
        Babylon, and Imam Ali, the founder of Shiite Islam, died in Kufa;
Whereas during the 35-year rule of the Baath Party and Saddam Hussein, and 
        despite the Provisional Constitution of 1968 that provided for 
        individual religious freedom in Iraq, the Government of Iraq severely 
        limited freedom of religion, especially for religious minorities, and 
        sought to exploit religious differences for political purposes, leading 
        the United States Government to designate Iraq as a ``country of 
        particular concern'' under the International Religious Freedom Act of 
        1998 (Public Law 105-292) because of systematic, ongoing, egregious 
        violations of religious freedom;
Whereas members of religious minority communities of Iraq, both those who have 
        been forced to flee the homeland in which their ancestors have lived for 
        thousands of years and those who remain in Iraq, are committed to 
        maintaining their presence in Iraq and keeping alive their communities' 
        cultures, heritage, and religions, but threats against them jeopardize 
        the future of Iraq as a diverse, pluralistic, and free society;
Whereas despite the reduction in violence in Iraq in recent years, serious 
        threats to religious freedom remain, including religiously motivated 
        violence directed at vulnerable religious minorities, their leaders, and 
        their holy sites, including Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians and 
        other Christians, Sabean Mandeans, Yeazidis, Baha'is, Kaka'is, Jews, and 
        Shi'a Shabak;
Whereas the March 2010 Report on Human Rights issued by the Department of State 
        identifies ``insurgent and extremist violence, coupled with weak 
        government performance in upholding the rule of law'' resulting in 
        ``widespread and severe human rights abuses'' as among the significant 
        and continuing human rights problems in Iraq;
Whereas although violence has impacted all aspects of society in Iraq, there 
        have been alarming levels of religiously motivated violence in Iraq in 
        recent years;
Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 
        continues to recommend that the Secretary of State designate Iraq as a 
        ``country of particular concern'' under the International Religious 
        Freedom Act of 1998, because of the systematic, ongoing, egregious 
        violations of religious freedom in Iraq;
Whereas scores of holy sites in Iraq have been bombed since 2004;
Whereas members of small religious minority communities in Iraq do not have 
        militia or tribal structures to defend them, often receive inadequate 
        official protection, and are legally, politically, and economically 
        marginalized;
Whereas in the Nineveh and Kirkuk governorates, where control is disputed 
        between the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan regional government, 
        religious minorities have been targeted for abuse, violence, and 
        discrimination;
Whereas before 1951, non-Muslims comprised some 6 percent of the population of 
        Iraq, with Jews as the oldest and largest of these communities, tracing 
        back to the Babylonian captivity of the sixth century BCE, but today the 
        Jewish community in Iraq numbers in the single digits and essentially 
        lives in hiding;
Whereas religious minorities in Iraq, who made up about 3 percent of the 
        population of Iraq in 2003, make up a disproportionately high percentage 
        of registered Iraqi refugees;
Whereas the number of Christians in Iraq was approximately 1,400,000 according 
        to the 1987 Iraqi census but, according to the 2009 Report on 
        International Religious Freedom issued by the Department of State, may 
        now number only 500,000 to 600,000;
Whereas the United States is gravely concerned about the viability of the 
        indigenous Christian communities of Iraq and other religious minority 
        communities, and the possible disappearance of their ancient languages, 
        culture, and heritage;
Whereas the Sabean Mandean community in Iraq reports that almost 90 percent of 
        its members have fled Iraq, leaving only about 3,500 to 5,000 Mandeans 
        in Iraq as of 2009;
Whereas the Baha'i faith, estimated to have fewer than 2,000 adherents in Iraq, 
        remains prohibited in Iraq under a 1970 law;
Whereas although hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees and internally 
        displaced persons have returned to their areas of origin, the numbers of 
        religious minority returnees to Iraq are disproportionately low; and
Whereas members of religious minority communities of Iraq in diaspora have 
        organized to support their communities in Iraq in ways that also benefit 
        the whole of Iraq society by encouraging the rule of law, enhanced 
        security, employment, education and health services: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the United States remains deeply concerned about the 
        plight of vulnerable religious minorities of Iraq;
            (2) the United States Government and the United Nations 
        Assistance Mission for Iraq should urge the Government of Iraq 
        to enhance security at places of worship in Iraq, particularly 
        where religious minorities are known to be at risk;
            (3) the United States Government should continue to work 
        with the Government of Iraq to ensure that members of ethnic 
        and religious minorities communities in Iraq--
                    (A) suffer no discrimination in recruitment, 
                employment, or advancement in the Iraqi police and 
                security forces; and
                    (B) while employed in the Iraqi police and security 
                forces, where appropriate, be assigned to their 
                locations of origin, rather than being transferred to 
                other areas;
            (4) the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan regional 
        government should work towards a peaceful and timely resolution 
        of disputes over territories, particularly those where many 
        religious communities reside;
            (5) the United States Government and the United Nations 
        Assistance Mission for Iraq should urge the Government of Iraq 
        to--
                    (A) implement in full those provisions of the 
                Constitution of Iraq that provide protections for the 
                individual rights to freedom of thought, conscience, 
                religion, and belief and protections for religious 
                minorities to enjoy their culture and language and 
                practice their religion; and
                    (B) reduce onerous registration requirements so 
                that smaller religious groups are not disadvantaged in 
                registering;
            (6) the Government of Iraq should take affirmative measures 
        to reverse the legal, political, and economic marginalization 
        of religious minorities in Iraq;
            (7) the United States Government should assist, consistent 
        with local aspirations and developmental needs, ethnic and 
        religious minorities in Iraq to organize themselves civically 
        and politically to effectively convey their concerns to 
        government;
            (8) the United States Government should continue to fund 
        capacity-building programs for the Iraqi Ministry of Human 
        Rights and the independent national Human Rights Commission, 
        and should continue to help reconstitute the minorities 
        committee to make it an effective voice for Iraqi minorities;
            (9) the Government of Iraq should direct the Iraqi Ministry 
        of Human Rights to investigate and issue a public report on 
        abuses against and the marginalization of minority communities 
        in Iraq and make recommendations to address such abuses; and
            (10) the United States Government should encourage the 
        Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan Regional Government to 
        protect the linguistic and cultural heritage, religious 
        beliefs, and ethnic and religious identities of minority 
        groups, in particular those living in the Nineveh Plain.
                                 <all>