Archbishop warns of ‘near-genocide’ of Iraqi Christians

March 17, 2011

Speaking in Ireland, a Chaldean Catholic bishop who ministers in northern Iraq offered an overview of the persecution of Christians there and lamented the “the human rights abuses and near-genocide conditions Iraqi Christians experience.”

“What Iraqis are left with is a weak constitution that tries to please two masters: on the one hand the premise of human rights supposedly for all its citizens, yet on the other hand, Islamic law for its majority of Muslims.” said Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil. “Islamists are not the only ones at fault. Secularists with an eye for profit are also responsible. Neighboring governments in the region feeding the insurgents with money and weapons to destabilize the government are also responsible.”

“The rest of world’s governments have turned their backs on us, as if the human rights abuses and near-genocide conditions Iraqi Christians experience, are temporary,” he added.

 

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Further information:

• Archbishop Bashar Warda: The Christians of Iraq (Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference)