WASHINGTON (ABP) — The U.S. House of Representatives has amended a funding bill in an attempt to focus attention on the postwar plight of Iraqi Christians.
The amendment, which was added to the Foreign Relations Authorization Act on a voice vote July 20, also asks the Bush administration to work with the United States Agency for International Development and use funding for welfare, education and resettlement of Iraq's Christian minority.
The House then passed the bill, H.R. 2601.
Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) offered the amendment. Eshoo is of Assyrian and Armenian descent and is the only Chaldo-Assyrian Christian in Congress. Iraqi Assyrian and Armenian minorities are two of several indigenous Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian groups with long histories in Iraq — histories that, in many cases, predate the advent of Islam in the nation.
Estimates of the number of Christians in Iraq vary, but the nation has long had one of the largest Christian populations in the Middle East. Under Saddam Hussein's regime, they enjoyed a relatively high level of religious freedom. However, the political instability that has engulfed Iraq since American forces deposed Hussein in 2003 has led to an increase in anti-Christian attacks. Christians in Iraq also have complained of being overlooked as U.S. officials attempt to rebuild the fractious nation and broker peace deals and power-sharing agreements among competing factions of Iraqi Muslims.
“If a fully functioning and sustainable democracy is to emerge in Iraq, the basic rights and needs of all minority groups must be safeguarded,” Eschoo said while offering the amendment.
She said as many as 80,000 Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq since Hussein's fall. “This ongoing exodus is deeply disturbing, and unless action is taken now to address the pressing needs of these indigenous Christians, we may well witness the complete loss of the Iraqi indigenous Christian community,” Eshoo said.
A lack of Christian representation on the committees drafting Iraq's new constitution has caused additional fears in the Christian communities there, she added.
Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.), who represents a large Assyrian community in central California, supported Eshoo's amendment by saying he believes the United States has an obligation to “guarantee that the rights of all Iraqis, particularly women and Christians, are not overlooked in the constitutional process.”
“Throughout history, the Assyrian people have suffered greatly in their attempts to obtain greater freedom and recognition,” Cardoza said. “The Assyrians were essential partners in the Iraqi opposition movement, and paid dearly with the assassination of many political leaders under Saddam Hussein's regime. We must make certain that the ethnic and religious groups that suffered and sacrificed under Saddam's regime are afforded human-rights guarantees in the permanent constitution.”