Monthly Archives: September 2016

By Edith M. Lederer?|?AP UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations and Iraq signed an agreement Friday aimed at helping the Baghdad government tackle sexual violence in conflict, an issue that made headlines following the capture and rape of Yazidi women by Islamic State extremists in 2014.…

The indigenous Syriacs (Arameans) of Iraq are deeply concerned about their rights and future in their ancestral land. The Nineveh Plain is close to be reconquered from ISIS, but the Syriacs fear to return home without international protection. The first step to ensure their future in their homeland begins with granting them recognition in Article…

Iraq’s Arameans express deep concern about the lack of constitutional recognition as a distinct ethno-religious people and their uncertain future in their homeland in the Nineveh Plain which soon may be retaken from ISIS. Unlike other populations in Iraq such as Turkmen, Chaldeans and Assyrians, the Syriacs are not mentioned in Article…

The WCA gave a statement in Geneva during the General Debate of the 33rd Regular Session of the UN Human Rights Council. It emphasized that the indigenous Aramean people of Syria and Iraq are facing excintion and that the world needs to speak up and prevent such a humanitarian disaster from happening. The WCA Delegate…

Once again, the WCA addressed the Interactive Dialogue with the UN Commission of inquiry on Syria at the 33rd Regular Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The first key message was to recognize, stop, punish and prevent acts of genocide committed by ISIS against Syria’s vulnerable minorities, such as the Arameans and…

The bishops of the Chaldean Catholic Church began a week-long synod in Erbil, Iraq, on September 22. Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako told AsiaNews that the synod would examine the situation in the Chaldean eparchy of San Diego, which has accepted priests and religious who have left Iraq without permission from their superiors. The Wall…

© AP Photo/ Mahmoud al-Samarrai Middle East 18:33 22.09.2016Get short URL 339409 The US military wants to send up to 500 soldiers to Iraq in order to help the country’s forces regain control of the city of Mosul, the last major stronghold of the Islamic State militant group in Iraq.…

In opposition to church officials, some Iraqis in the U.S. have been helping Christians escape Iraq Father Noel Gorgis celebrates Mass at a home in El Cajon, Calif., in late August. Father Gorgis has been trying to get more Iraqi Christians, known as Chaldeans, in the U.S., and was expelled from his post at the…

By Stoyan Zaimov , Christian Post Reporter U.S. President Barack Obama (Photo: Reuters/Carlo Allegri) U.S. President Barack Obama addresses the United Nations General Assembly in the Manhattan borough of New York, September 20, 2016.…

by Sean Savage/JNS.org and filed under News, World. Chief among the many foreign policy challenges that President Barack Obama as well as our next president face is how to successfully defeat ISIS, also known as the Islamic State or Daesh. When ISIS burst onto the scene in 2014 by taking advantage of Middle East instability…

The upcoming Chaldean synod will focus on a new bishop for the Diocese of San Diego, liturgy renewal, help for Mosul refugees, and beatification of Chaldean martyrs. ERBIL: The Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael Sako is currently taking part in a spiritual retreat “with all the clergy of Iraq” ahead of next synod set for…

By Christian Telegraph, Christian Telegraph Iraqi Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities gathered in Washington two weeks ago and proposed for there to be a safe zone created for them in the Nineveh Plains, which are northeast of Mosul in northern Iraq, Christian Telegraph reports according to Mission Network News. The idea would be for…

by ANDREW E. HARROD Knights of Columbus (KC) Supreme Knight Carl Anderson called for a “clear-eyed view of the history of Islamic cultures and their failure or rejection of secularization” in his September 8 gala dinner address at Washington, DC’s Capitol Hill Club. His “new realism in our approach to issues of human rights” in…

BY Lyndsey Koh Iraq (MNN) — Iraqi Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities gathered in Washington two weeks ago and proposed for there to be a safe zone created for them in the Nineveh Plains, which are northeast of Mosul in northern Iraq. The idea would be for the safe zone to potentially become a…

Lorraine Caballero An Iraqi Christian fleeing violence at the hands of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants is now facing the possibility of being deported from Britain. In an exclusive interview with RT, Sarmad Ozan, 25, said he is appealing a decision from the Home Office to deny his request for asylum. He…

By Brandon Showalter , CP Reporter (Photo: Reuters/Kai Pfaffenbach) A child plays in the garden of a kindergarten in Frankfurt, Germany, May 11, 2015. Many parents dread talking about evils like genocide with their children, but Russell Moore, president of the SBC’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, says it’s a subject they must not avoid.…

Military vehicles of Kurdish peshmerga forces are seen in the southeast of Mosul, Iraq, Aug. 14, 2016. (photo by REUTERS/Azad Lashkari) BAGHDAD — If forces in Iraq succeed in liberating Ninevah province and its capital, Mosul, from the Islamic State (IS), many observers fear conflicts are likely to ignite over disputed areas and their management…

Charles Mercier Ordinations in Ankawa. (Credit: Stivan Shany.) Just a few miles away from war and genocide, two priestly ordinations last Friday in Iraqi Kurdistan, and the celebrations they triggered, suggest a surprising narrative of not only survival but rebirth for Christianity in the Middle East.…

Plans for Christian repopulation of Nineveh post-Daesh (ISIS) “The Church is making a strong case to re-claim its place in a region where – until 2014 – there had been an unbroken Christian presence stretching back almost to the start of Christianity” – Neville Kyrke-Smith By John Pontifex…

By Sameer Nouri Yacoub, The Arab Weekly Volunteers of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, some shown here in 2014, are among those moving in to recapture Mosul, but a revenge drive is building for after the Islamic State is driven out. File Photo by Mohammed al Jumaily/UPI | License Photo…