Tag: Yazidis

Vatican: Peace talks must consider Christian needs

January 27, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Civil War, Islamic State, Syria, UN, Yazidis

The Geneva peace talks aimed at ending the Syrian civil war must “take into consideration” the needs of Christians, . The talks – due to start on 29 Jan. and last for six months – are aimed at finding a political solution to the on-going Syrian crisis. The UN said the first . . . Read More

UK leaders say IS guilty of Christian ‘genocide’

December 21, 2015 Copts, Egypt, Genocide, Islamic State, Lord Alton, UK, UN, USA, Yazidis

Sixty UK parliamentarians, led by Lord Alton and the convenor of the Catholic Legislators’ Network, MP Rob Flello, have to ask that he use his influence to come to an agreement with the UN with reference to Daesh’s (ISIS) atrocities against minorities. Their letter calls on the 127 signatories of . . . Read More

US Senate condemns IS sexual violence

December 18, 2015 Iraq, Islamic State, Minorities, USA, Women, Yazidis

The U.S. Senate has “ongoing sexual violence” by the self-proclaimed Islamic State against Christian and other minority women in Iraq. The resolution, , arose from a September hearing at which an Iraqi woman told members of Congress about her escape from sexual enslavement at the hands of an American fighting . . . Read More

Push to include Christians in IS ‘genocide’ charge

December 8, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Asylum seekers, Genocide, Iraq, Islamic State, Jizya, Syria, USA, Yazidis

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called on its government to include Christians in the definition of those at risk of genocide from Islamic State’s campaign in Syria and Iraq. A calls for a broader inclusion of Christians, Shi’a, Turkmen and Shabak communities as well as Yazidis, . . . Read More

Iraqi Patriarch challenges ‘identity law’

November 11, 2015 Iraq Baghdad, Children, Converts, Erbil, Iraq, Louis Raphael I Sako, Minorities, Yazidis

The Chaldean Catholic Patriarch of Iraq renewed his opposition this week to an article in the nation’s new national laws requiring minority-faith children to become Muslims if one parent converts to Islam. Describing the new law as both unconstitutional and “unacceptable,” Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako has called on President . . . Read More

Iraqi Christian MPs challenge their constitution

October 22, 2015 Iraq Children, Constitution, Converts, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Marriage, Minorities, Yazidis

Four Christian members of the Iraqi parliament have called for a change in the law to preserve the religion of dependent children whose fathers convert to Islam, reports Middle East Christian News. As the civil law now stands, children under the age of 18 become Muslim when their father converts. . . . Read More

‘We won’t let diversity of ME disappear’

September 9, 2015 Global News -- No Particular Country Europe, France, Iraq, Islamic State, Jordan, Lebanon, Middle East, Paris, Syria, Turkey, UN, Yazidis

A UN conference has announced a plan to protect minorities persecuted by the so-called Islamic State in the Middle East. Speaking at the conference in Paris of 60 countries on Tuesday, 8 Sep., French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said several countries would announce financial pledges in the coming months for . . . Read More

Belgium rescues Aleppo Christians from Syria

July 8, 2015 Syria Aleppo, Chaldeans, Human rights, Lebanon, Middle East, Refugees, Syria, Yazidis

Some 240 people, mainly Christians, have been brought out of Syria’s second city of Aleppo and taken to Belgium, the government in Brussels says. All the families had fled their homes and were at risk of repeated human rights abuse, a spokesman told the BBC. Civil society groups helped take . . . Read More

Turkish authorities ask tiny Christian community to help Yazidi refugees

April 9, 2015 Turkey Diyarbakir, Iraq, Islamic State, Jerry Mattix, Refugees, Suruç, Syria, Turkey, Yazidis

As a Turkish Christian, Ender Peker is used to facing hostility from religious Muslims, particularly because he lives in Turkey’s conservative southeast. So he was shocked last fall when an imam asked him to take over food distribution at a nearby refugee camp. “He said to me, ‘I want you . . . Read More

Iraqi Yazidi couple flees ISIS to freedom

December 22, 2014 Iraq Iraq, Peshmerga, Refugees, Yazidis

Rescue operations began Dec. 19 in northern Iraq for thousands of Yazidi villagers trapped for the past four months on Mount Sinjar and its surrounding villages. Aided by a barrage of coalition air strikes, Kurdish Peshmerga forces began a military offensive on Dec. 17 to break the siege imposed upon Sinjar’s . . . Read More

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