III 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 322 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on religious minorities in Iraq. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 26, 2009 

Mr. LEVIN (for himself, Mr. BROWNBACK, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. LUGAR) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

AUGUST 5, 2010 

Committee discharged; considered, amended, and agreed to with an amended 

preamble 

RESOLUTION 

Expressing the sense of the Senate on religious minorities 

in Iraq. 

Whereas the territory of Iraq, the land of Mesopotamia, has 

millennia of rich cultural and religious history; 

Whereas the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians thrived 

within what are now the borders of Iraq; 

Whereas the biblical patriarch Abraham was born in Ur, 

King Hammurabi ruled from Babylon, and Imam Ali, the 

founder of Shiite Islam, died in Kufa; 

Whereas during the 35-year rule of the Baath Party and 

Saddam Hussein, and despite the Provisional Constitution of 1968 that provided for individual religious freeVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:11 Aug 06, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR322.ATS SR322

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dom in Iraq, the Government of Iraq severely limited 

freedom of religion, especially for religious minorities, 

and sought to exploit religious differences for political 

purposes, leading the United States Government to designate Iraq as a ‘‘country of particular concern’’ under 

the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Public 

Law 105–292) because of systematic, ongoing, egregious 

violations of religious freedom; 

Whereas members of religious minority communities of Iraq, 

both those who have been forced to flee the homeland in 

which their ancestors have lived for thousands of years 

and those who remain in Iraq, are committed to maintaining their presence in Iraq and keeping alive their 

communities’ cultures, heritage, and religions, but threats 

against them jeopardize the future of Iraq as a diverse, 

pluralistic, and free society; 

Whereas despite the reduction in violence in Iraq in recent 

years, serious threats to religious freedom remain, including religiously motivated violence directed at vulnerable 

religious minorities, their leaders, and their holy sites, including Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians and 

other Christians, Sabean Mandeans, Yeazidis, Baha’is, 

Kaka’is, Jews, and Shi’a Shabak; 

Whereas the March 2010 Report on Human Rights issued by 

the Department of State identifies ‘‘insurgent and extremist violence, coupled with weak government performance in upholding the rule of law’’ resulting in ‘‘widespread and severe human rights abuses’’ as among the 

significant and continuing human rights problems in 

Iraq; 


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Whereas although violence has impacted all aspects of society 

in Iraq, there have been alarming levels of religiously motivated violence in Iraq in recent years; 

Whereas the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom continues to recommend that the Secretary of State designate Iraq as a ‘‘country of particular 

concern’’ under the International Religious Freedom Act 

of 1998, because of the systematic, ongoing, egregious 

violations of religious freedom in Iraq; 

Whereas scores of holy sites in Iraq have been bombed since 

2004; 

Whereas members of small religious minority communities in 

Iraq do not have militia or tribal structures to defend 

them, often receive inadequate official protection, and are 

legally, politically, and economically marginalized; 

Whereas in the Nineveh and Kirkuk governorates, where control is disputed between the Government of Iraq and the 

Kurdistan regional government, religious minorities have 

been targeted for abuse, violence, and discrimination; 

Whereas before 1951, non-Muslims comprised some 6 percent 

of the population of Iraq, with Jews as the oldest and 

largest of these communities, tracing back to the Babylonian captivity of the sixth century BCE, but today the 

Jewish community in Iraq numbers in the single digits 

and essentially lives in hiding; 

Whereas religious minorities in Iraq, who made up about 3 

percent of the population of Iraq in 2003, make up a disproportionately high percentage of registered Iraqi refugees; 

Whereas the number of Christians in Iraq was approximately 

1,400,000 according to the 1987 Iraqi census but, acVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:11 Aug 06, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\SR322.ATS SR322

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cording to the 2009 Report on International Religious 

Freedom issued by the Department of State, may now 

number only 500,000 to 600,000; 

Whereas the United States is gravely concerned about the viability of the indigenous Christian communities of Iraq 

and other religious minority communities, and the possible disappearance of their ancient languages, culture, 

and heritage; 

Whereas the Sabean Mandean community in Iraq reports 

that almost 90 percent of its members have fled Iraq, 

leaving only about 3,500 to 5,000 Mandeans in Iraq as 

of 2009; 

Whereas the Baha’i faith, estimated to have fewer than 2,000 

adherents in Iraq, remains prohibited in Iraq under a 

1970 law; 

Whereas although hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees 

and internally displaced persons have returned to their 

areas of origin, the numbers of religious minority returnees to Iraq are disproportionately low; and 

Whereas members of religious minority communities of Iraq 

in diaspora have organized to support their communities 

in Iraq in ways that also benefit the whole of Iraq society 

by encouraging the rule of law, enhanced security, employment, education and health services: Now, therefore, 

be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that— 

2 (1) the United States remains deeply concerned 

3 about the plight of vulnerable religious minorities of 

4 Iraq; 


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1 (2) the United States Government and the 

2 United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq should 

3 urge the Government of Iraq to enhance security at 

4 places of worship in Iraq, particularly where reli5 gious minorities are known to be at risk; 

6 (3) the United States Government should con7 tinue to work with the Government of Iraq to ensure 

8 that members of ethnic and religious minorities com9 munities in Iraq— 

10 (A) suffer no discrimination in recruit11 ment, employment, or advancement in the Iraqi 

12 police and security forces; and 

13 (B) while employed in the Iraqi police and 

14 security forces, where appropriate, be assigned 

15 to their locations of origin, rather than being 

16 transferred to other areas; 

17 (4) the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan 

18 regional government should work towards a peaceful 

19 and timely resolution of disputes over territories, 

20 particularly those where many religious communities 

21 reside; 

22 (5) the United States Government and the 

23 United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq should 

24 urge the Government of Iraq to— 


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1 (A) implement in full those provisions of 

2 the Constitution of Iraq that provide protec3 tions for the individual rights to freedom of 

4 thought, conscience, religion, and belief and 

5 protections for religious minorities to enjoy 

6 their culture and language and practice their 

7 religion; and 

8 (B) reduce onerous registration require9 ments so that smaller religious groups are not 

10 disadvantaged in registering; 

11 (6) the Government of Iraq should take affirm12 ative measures to reverse the legal, political, and 

13 economic marginalization of religious minorities in 

14 Iraq; 

15 (7) the United States Government should as16 sist, consistent with local aspirations and develop17 mental needs, ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq 

18 to organize themselves civically and politically to ef19 fectively convey their concerns to government; 

20 (8) the United States Government should con21 tinue to fund capacity-building programs for the 

22 Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights and the inde23 pendent national Human Rights Commission, and 

24 should continue to help reconstitute the minorities 


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1 committee to make it an effective voice for Iraqi mi2 norities; 

3 (9) the Government of Iraq should direct the 

4 Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights to investigate and 

5 issue a public report on abuses against and the 

6 marginalization of minority communities in Iraq and 

7 make recommendations to address such abuses; and 

8 (10) the United States Government should en9 courage the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan 

10 Regional Government to protect the linguistic and 

11 cultural heritage, religious beliefs, and ethnic and re12 ligious identities of minority groups, in particular 

13 those living in the Nineveh Plain. 

Æ 


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