[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 118 (Thursday, August 5, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6989-S6990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RELIGIOUS MINORITIES IN IRAQ
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Foreign
Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res.
322 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The clerk will report the resolution by title.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
A resolution (S. Res. 322) expressing the sense of the
Senate on religious minorities in Iraq.
There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the
resolution.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a Levin
substitute amendment to the resolution, which is at the desk, be agreed
to; the resolution, as amended, be agreed to; that a Levin substitute
amendment to the preamble, which is at the desk, be agreed to; the
preamble, as amended, be agreed to; the motions to reconsider be laid
upon the table, with no intervening action or debate and any statements
relating to this measure be printed in the Record.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The amendment (No. 4604) was agreed to, as follows:
AMENDMENT NO. 4604
(Purpose: In the nature of a substitute to the resolution)
Strike all after the resolving clause and insert the
following: 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.
The amendment (No. 4605) was agreed to, as follows:
amendment no. 4605
(Purpose: In the nature of a substitute to the preamble)
Strike the preamble and insert the following:
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;
[[Page S6990]]
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
The resolution (S. Res. 322), as amended, was agreed to.
The preamble, as amended, was agreed to.
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