IV 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 944 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives on religious minorities 
in Iraq. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 3, 2009 
Mr. PETERS (for himself, Mr. WOLF, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. MCGOV-
ERN, Mr. CARDOZA, Mr. KIRK, Mr. FILNER, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, 
Mr. LEVIN, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mr. SCHOCK, Mr. OLVER, Mr. HASTINGS of 
Florida, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. WEXLER, Mr. INGLIS, Ms. WATSON, Ms. 
SPEIER, Mr. SHULER, Mr. MURPHY of New York, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. 
WATT, Mr. MAFFEI, Mr. MILLER of North Carolina, Ms. RICHARDSON, 
Ms. KILROY, Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia, Ms. DEGETTE, Mr. ANDREWS, 
Mr. ADLER of New Jersey, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. KLEIN of Florida, Ms. 
KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mr. CARNAHAN, Mr. 
SIRES, Mr. MCMAHON, Ms. WOOLSEY, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, and 
Ms. BERKLEY) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives on 
religious minorities in Iraq. 
Whereas threats against the smallest religious minorities in 
Iraq jeopardize the future of Iraq as a diverse, pluralistic, 
and free society; 
Whereas according to the United States Commission on 
International Religious Freedom, there are grave threats 
to religious freedom in Iraq, particularly for the smallest, 
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•HRES 944 IH 
most vulnerable religious minorities in Iraq, including 
Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, and other Christians, 
Sabean Mandeans, and Yazidis; 
Whereas the February 2009 Country Report on Human 
Rights issued by the Department of State identifies on- 
going ‘‘misappropriation of official authority by sectarian, 
criminal, and extremist groups’’ as among the significant 
and continuing human rights problems in Iraq; 
Whereas in recent years, there have been alarming numbers 
of religiously motivated killings, abductions, beatings, 
rapes, threats, intimidation, forced conversions, mar-
riages, and displacement from homes and businesses, and 
attacks on religious leaders, pilgrims, and holy sites, in 
Iraq, with the smallest religious minorities in Iraq having 
been among the most vulnerable, although Iraqis from 
many religious communities, Muslim and non-Muslim 
alike, have suffered in this violence; 
Whereas the United States Commission on International Reli-
gious Freedom continues to recommend that the Presi-
dent designate Iraq as a ‘‘country of particular concern’’, 
or CPC, under the International Religious Freedom Act 
of 1998, because of the ongoing, severe abuses of reli-
gious freedom in Iraq; 
Whereas the Assyrian International News Agency reports 
that 59 churches have been bombed in Iraq between June 
2004 and July 2009; 
Whereas persecution and violence in Iraq have extended to 
church leaders as well, such as the March 2008 kidnap 
for ransom and killing of 65-year-old Chaldean Catholic 
Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho; 
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Whereas members of small religious minority communities in 
Iraq do not have militia or tribal structures to defend 
them, do not receive adequate official protection, and are 
legally, politically, and economically marginalized; 
Whereas control of ethnically and religiously mixed areas, in-
cluding the Nineveh and Kirkuk governorates, is disputed 
between the Kurdistan regional government and the Gov-
ernment of Iraq, and Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, and 
other Christians, Sabean Mandeans, Yazidis, Shabak, 
and Turkomen are caught in the middle of this struggle 
for control and have been targeted for abuses and dis-
crimination as a result; 
Whereas governments in the region report that approximately 
2,400,000 refugees and asylum seekers have fled Iraq 
since 2003; 
Whereas many religious minorities in Iraq, who made up 
about 3 percent of the population of Iraq in 2003, have 
fled to other areas in Iraq or to other countries, where 
they reflect a disproportionately high percentage of reg-
istered Iraqi refugees; 
Whereas the flight of such refugees has substantially dimin-
ished their numbers in Iraq, and few show signs of re-
turning to Iraq; 
Whereas approximately 1,400,000 Christians were estimated 
to have lived in Iraq as of 2003, including Chaldean 
Catholics, Assyrian Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the 
East, Syriac Catholics, Syriac Orthodox, Armenians 
(Catholic and Orthodox), Protestants, and Evangelicals; 
Whereas it is widely reported that only 500,000 to 700,000 
indigenous Christians remain in Iraq as of 2009; 
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Whereas the Sabean Mandean community in Iraq reports 
that almost 90 percent of the members of that commu-
nity either fled Iraq or have been killed, leaving only 
about 3,500 to 5,000 Mandeans in Iraq as of 2009; 
Whereas the Yazidi community in Iraq reportedly now num-
bers about 500,000, a decrease from about 700,000 in 
2005; 
Whereas the Baha’i faith, estimated to have only 2,000 ad-
herents in Iraq, remains prohibited in Iraq under a 1970 
law; 
Whereas the ancient and once-large Jewish community in 
Iraq now numbers fewer than 10, and they essentially 
live in hiding; 
Whereas in 2008, the United Nations High Commissioner for 
Refugees (UNHCR) reported that approximately 221,000 
Iraqis returned to their areas of origin in Iraq, the vast 
majority 
of 
whom 
settled 
into 
neighborhoods 
or 
governorates controlled by members of their own religious 
community; 
Whereas many of these returnees reported returning because 
of difficult economic conditions in their countries of asy-
lum, principally Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon; and 
Whereas Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, and other Christians, 
Sabean Mandeans, and Yazidis are not believed to be 
among these returnees: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the United States remains deeply concerned 
about the plight of vulnerable religious and ethnic 
minorities of Iraq and is particularly concerned for 
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the Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, and other Chris-
tians, Sabean Mandeans, Yazidis, Baha’is, Jews, 
and Muslim ethnic minorities, the Shabak and 
Turkomen, and other religious and ethnic minorities 
of Iraq; 
(2) the United States Government and the 
United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq should 
urge the Government of Iraq to enhance security at 
places of worship in Iraq, particularly where reli-
gious minorities are known to be at risk; 
(3) the United States Government should con-
tinue to work with the Government of Iraq to— 
(A) urgently train and deploy into the 
Iraqi police and security forces members of vul-
nerable minority communities in Iraq, including 
in Nineveh and other areas in which religious 
minorities are located, who are as representa-
tive as possible of those communities; and 
(B) ensure that members of such commu-
nities— 
(i) suffer no discrimination in recruit-
ment, employment, or advancement in the 
Iraqi police and security forces; and 
(ii) while employed in the Iraqi police 
and security forces, be assigned to their lo-
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cations of origin, rather than being trans-
ferred to other areas; 
(4) the Government of Iraq should, with the as-
sistance of the United States Government— 
(A) ensure that the upcoming national 
elections in Iraq are safe, fair, and free of in-
timidation and violence so that all Iraqis, in-
cluding religious minorities, can participate in 
the elections; and 
(B) permit and facilitate election moni-
toring by experts from local and international 
nongovernmental 
organizations, 
the 
inter-
national community, and the United Nations, 
particularly in minority areas; 
(5) the Government of Iraq and the Kurdistan 
regional government should work towards a peaceful 
and timely resolution of disputes over territories; 
(6) the United States Government and the 
United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq should 
urge the Government of Iraq to work with minority 
communities and their representatives to develop 
measures to implement article 125 of the Iraq Con-
stitution, which guarantees ‘‘the administrative, po-
litical, cultural, and educational rights of the various 
nationalities, such as Turkomen, Chaldeans, Assyr-
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ians, and all the other constituents’’ in Nineveh and 
other areas where these groups are present; 
(7) the Government of Iraq should take affirm-
ative measures to reverse the legal, political, and 
economic marginalization of religious minorities in 
Iraq; 
(8) the United States Government should direct 
assistance to projects that develop the ability of eth-
nic and religious minorities in Iraq to organize 
themselves civically and politically to effectively con-
vey their concerns to government; 
(9) the United States Government should con-
tinue to fund capacity-building programs for the 
Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights, the independent 
national Human Rights Commission, and a new 
independent minorities committee whose membership 
is selected by minority communities of Iraq; 
(10) the Government of Iraq should direct the 
Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights to investigate and 
issue a public report on abuses against and the 
marginalization of minority communities in Iraq and 
make recommendations to address such abuses; 
(11) the Government of Iraq should, with the 
assistance of the United States Government and 
international organizations, help ensure that dis-
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placed Iraqis considering return to Iraq have the 
proper information needed to make informed deci-
sions regarding such return; and 
(12) the United States Government and inter-
national organizations should continue to work with 
the Government of Iraq to develop the legal frame-
work necessary to address property disputes result-
ing when displaced Iraqis attempt to return to their 
homes in Iraq. 
Æ 
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