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Iraq's
Ignored Minorities Face Extinction
New MRG Report
26 February 2007
Download the PDF report
Religious and ethnic minorities in
Iraq are facing unprecedented levels of violence, and in
some cases, risk being eradicated completely from their
ancient homeland, according to a new report from Minority
Rights Group International.
In a major survey of the plight of
Iraq's minorities, the report finds that these groups - some
of whom have lived in Iraq for over two millennia - are
being targeted by Sunni, Shia and Kurdish groups as the
battle for power and territory in Iraq intensifies.
The report titled Assimilation,
Exodus, Eradication: Iraq's minority communities since 2003
outlines the precarious position of the country's minorities
- Armenian and Chaldo-Assyrian Christians, Bahá'ís, Faili
Kurds, Jews, Mandaeans, Palestinians, Shabaks, Turkomans and
Yazidis - who make up ten per cent of Iraq's population.
According to Mark Lattimer,
Director of MRG, 'Every day we hear news about the carnage
in Iraq, yet the desperate situation of minority communities
is barely reported. Subject to a barrage of attacks,
kidnappings and threats from all sides, some communities
which have lived in Iraq for two thousand years now face
extinction.'
Religious communities are being
targeted because of their faith. Christians are attacked
often because they are believed to be associated with the
West, while the Mandaean and Yazidi religions have been
dubbed "impure" by Islamic extremists.
The flight of minority groups is
immense - it is estimated that they make up a third of the
1.8m Iraqi refugees now seeking sanctuary across the globe.
But says Lattimer, 'Despite the
fact that many Iraqi Christians fled because they were
accused of association with the American or British forces,
hardly any Iraqis have been offered refuge in the US or the
UK.' MRG is calling on the international community,
especially the UK and US, to share the refugee burden and
not leave it to fall disproportionately on neighbouring
states.
In oil-rich Kirkuk, minorities
also find themselves under pressure, in advance of a 2007
referendum on whether Kirkuk should become part of Iraq's
semi-autonomous Kurdish region.
Minority representatives report
that they are being pressured to support Kurdish political
parties or to state their identity as Kurdish, which will
strengthen Kurdish claims to land.
Preti Taneja, author of the report
says, 'MRG is calling on the international community and the
Iraqi government to recognize the special vulnerability of
the country's minorities. This should be the basic starting
point, if Iraq's minority groups are to survive the current
onslaught.'
Notes to Editors
- Minority Rights Group
International (MRG) is a non governmental organisation
working to secure the rights of ethnic, religious and
linguistic minorities and indigenous peoples worldwide.
- Figures of internally
displaced and refugees sourced from the UNHCR
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Download the PDF report
For more information or to
arrange an interview with Mark Lattimer or Preti Taneja
please contact:
Farah Mihlar on +44 (0)207
4224205 (office) or +44 (0) 7870596863 (mobile)
e-mail -
farah.mihlar@mrgmail.org,
or Emma Eastwood on +44 (0)207 4224205 (office) or +44
(0)7989699984 (mobile), e-mail -
emma.eastwood@mrgmail.org
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