American Jewish Committee Speaks Up for Iraqi Religious Minorities

January 18, 07
Ari Gordon

AJC joined other Jewish organizations speaking out on behalf of embattled Iraqi Christian refugees in a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "Our community is particularly empathetic to the plight of Iraqi Christians, whose current exodus is reminiscent of the Jewish exodus from Iraq between 1948 and 1970, when approximately 150,000 Jews were forced to flee a civilization where they had resided since biblical times." READ LETTER BELOW. The plight of minorities in Iraq was highlighted in a Washington Times op-ed by Felice Gaer, director of AJC's Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, who also serves as chair of the U.S. Commission on International Interreligious Freedom.

January 12, 2007

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520

Dear Madame Secretary:

The American Jewish community owes its existence to the welcome which first generation Jewish-Americans received in the United States after fleeing religious persecution. Our own history, combined with the fundamental Jewish principle of Piddyon Shevuyim (redemption of the captive), compels us to urge that the United States Refugee Program provide a similar welcome to religious minorities who have been fleeing Iraq.

Our community is particularly empathetic to the plight of Iraqi Christians, whose current exodus is reminiscent of the Jewish exodus from Iraq between 1948 and 1970, when approximately 150,000 Jews were forced to flee a civilization where they had resided since biblical times. Only a few dozen Jews remain in Iraq today. According to a report cited in the Department of State's International Religious Freedom Report for 2006, "after a series of church bombings and incidents of violence targeting Christians over the past two years, more than 200,000 non-Muslims left the country or fled to the North."

Many have fled to neighboring countries which are not even signatories to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which protects asylum seekers from involuntary return to countries where they may face persecution. Most Iraqi refugees in these countries cannot work legally to support themselves, and their children cannot attend school. Rather, their children are often forced to work in sweatshops where they are paid little ? or nothing at all ? as unscrupulous employers realize these refugees have no legal recourse to complain about unpaid wages. Iraqi refugees so fear deportation and attracting the attention of authorities that they avoid seeking emergency medical assistance, and do not contact the police when victimized by crime.

The international community is doing little to protect these asylum seekers. According to a January 2, 2007 article in the New York Times, last year the Syria office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which is mandated to protect Iraqi refugees, had to do so with less than one dollar per refugee. This year, the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program ? with a resettlement target of 70,000 refugees worldwide - plans to offer resettlement to only a few hundred Iraqis.

According to most estimates, more than 1.2 million Iraqis have fled their country since 2003. The United States must show greater leadership in protecting them; particularly those religious minorities ? the Christians, the Mandaeans, and the Jews ? who have no hope of imminent return, as well as those who fled after being threatened for having ties to the United States.

We urge the Administration to contribute significantly greater resources toward basic protection and services for Iraqi refugees within the region, schooling for their children, and resettlement to the United States for those whom a safe and voluntary return to Iraq is unlikely, including many Iraqi Christians, Mandaeans and Jews. We would like to make a special plea for refugees with family ties to the United States.

The Jewish community continues to have nightmares from more than 60 years ago, when many of our brothers and sisters in Europe were denied refuge and reunification with family members living in the United States. In the 50 years following the Holocaust, the Department of State seemed to have learned a lesson, and allowed far greater opportunities for Vietnamese, Soviet, Bosnian, and other refugees with family and other U.S. ties to apply for resettlement. We ask that the Administration give similar consideration to those Iraqi refugees who have family members in the United States ? or who are targeted for associating with the United States in Iraq ? and permit them to apply directly to the United States for resettlement. The U.S. Refugee Program should no longer require refugees with such ties to the United States to obtain a resettlement "referral" from the UNHCR, which needs to direct its scarce resources toward tending to the protection and assistance needs of all Iraqi refugees in the region.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

National

American Jewish Committee American Jewish Congress Anti-Defamation League B'nai B'rith International Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) Jewish Council for Public Affairs Jewish Labor Committee National Council of Jewish Women NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia The Workmen?s Circle/Arbeter Ring UCSJ: Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union Union for Reform Judaism United Jewish Communities

Ari M. Gordon Assistant Director Department of Interreligious Affairs American Jewish Committee 165 E56th St. New York, NY 10022 (212) 751-4000 x266 www.ajc.org www.engagingamerica.org