[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.

                          ____________________