H. Res. 944 
In the House of Representatives, U. S., 
February 24, 2010. 
Whereas threats against members of even the smallest reli-
gious and ethnic minority communities in Iraq could 
jeopardize the future of Iraq as a diverse, pluralistic, and 
free society; 
Whereas according to the Department of State’s Inter-
national Religious Freedom Report, violent acts continue 
to pose a significant threat to members of the country’s 
vulnerable non-Muslim religious minority communities, 
including documented attacks against Chaldeans, Syriacs, 
Assyrians, and other Christians, Sabean Mandeans, and 
Yazidis, and ‘‘very few of the perpetrators of violence 
committed against Christians and other religious minori-
ties in the country have been punished’’; 
Whereas according to the United States Commission on 
International Religious Freedom, there are grave threats 
to religious freedom in Iraq, particularly for members of 
the smallest, most vulnerable religious minority commu-
nities in Iraq, including Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, 
and other Christians, Sabean Mandeans, and Yazidis; 
Whereas the February 2009 Country Report on Human 
Rights Practices issued by the Department of State iden-
tifies ongoing ‘‘misappropriation of official authority by 
sectarian, criminal, and extremist groups’’ as among the
•HRES 944 EH 
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, non-Muslim 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 Assyrian International News Agency reports 
that 59 churches were 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; 
Whereas many members of non-Muslim religious minority 
communities in Iraq reportedly do not receive adequate 
official protection, and are legally, politically, and eco-
nomically marginalized; 
Whereas control of several ethnically and religiously mixed 
areas, including the Nineveh and Tamim (Kirkuk) 
governorates, is disputed between the Kurdistan regional 
government and the Government of Iraq, and Chaldeans, 
Syriacs, 
Assyrians, 
and 
other 
Christians, 
Sabean 
Mandeans, Yazidis, and Muslim ethnic minorities Shabak 
and Turkomans are caught in the middle of this struggle 
for control and have been targeted for abuses and dis-
crimination as a result;
•HRES 944 EH 
Whereas many members of vulnerable non-Muslim religious 
minority communities in Iraq have fled to other areas in 
Iraq or to other countries; 
Whereas the flight of such refugees has substantially dimin-
ished their numbers in 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, Evangelicals, and 
others; 
Whereas it is widely reported that only 500,000 to 700,000 
indigenous Christians remained in Iraq as of 2009; 
Whereas since 2003, the Sabean Mandean community has 
found itself targeted by both Sunni and Shia Islamic ex-
tremists, and by criminal gangs who use religion to jus-
tify their attacks; 
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 in August 2007 a series of bombings targeted the 
Yazidi community of Iraq resulting in an estimated 200 
deaths and more than 200 injuries; 
Whereas at least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded in 
a double suicide bombing in August 2009 which targeted 
the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq; 
Whereas the Yazidi community in Iraq reportedly now num-
bers about 500,000, a decrease from about 700,000 in 
2005;
•HRES 944 EH 
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 many members of vulnerable religious and ethnic 
minority communities are not believed to be represented 
in more than negligible numbers among these returnees: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Represent-
atives that— 
(1) the United States remains deeply concerned 
about the plight of members of the vulnerable religious 
and ethnic minority communities of Iraq; 
(2) the Secretary of State should develop and report 
to Congress on a comprehensive strategy to encourage 
the protection of the rights of members of vulnerable re-
ligious and ethnic minority communities in Iraq;
•HRES 944 EH 
(3) the United States Government should urge the 
Government of Iraq to enhance security at places of wor-
ship in Iraq, particularly where members of vulnerable 
religious minority communities are known to be at risk; 
(4) the United States Government should continue 
to work with the Government of Iraq to integrate reli-
gious and ethnic minorities into the government in gen-
eral, and the Iraqi Security Forces, in particular, with 
the goal of ensuring that members of such commu-
nities— 
(A) suffer no discrimination in recruitment, 
employment, or advancement in government posi-
tions, in general, and the Iraqi police and security 
forces, in particular; and 
(B) while employed in the Iraqi police and se-
curity forces, be initially assigned, in reasonable 
numbers, to their locations of origin, rather than 
being transferred to other areas; 
(5) the Government of Iraq should, with the assist-
ance of the United States Government— 
(A) ensure that the upcoming national elec-
tions in Iraq are safe, fair, and free of intimidation 
and violence so that all Iraqis, including members 
of vulnerable religious and ethnic minority commu-
nities, can participate in the elections; and
•HRES 944 EH 
(B) permit and facilitate election monitoring by 
experts from local and international nongovern-
mental organizations, the international community, 
and the United Nations, particularly in ethnic and 
religious minority areas; 
(6) the United States Government should encourage 
the Government of Iraq to work with members of vulner-
able religious and ethnic minority communities to de-
velop and implement tangible, effective measures to pro-
tect their rights and measures to reverse the legal, polit-
ical, and economic marginalization of religious minorities 
in Iraq; 
(7) in providing assistance to Iraq, the United 
States Government should continue to take into account 
the needs of vulnerable members of religious and ethnic 
minority communities and expand upon efforts to work 
with local organizations that serve those communities; 
(8) the United States Government should continue 
to fund capacity-building programs for the Iraqi Min-
istry of Human Rights, the independent national Human 
Rights Commission, and the newly-created independent 
minorities committee whose membership is selected by 
members of vulnerable religious and ethnic minority 
communities of Iraq;
•HRES 944 EH 
(9) the United States Government should strongly 
encourage the Government of Iraq to direct the Iraqi 
Ministry of Human Rights to investigate and issue a 
public report on abuses against and the marginalization 
of members of vulnerable religious and ethnic minority 
communities in Iraq and make recommendations to ad-
dress such abuses; and 
(10) the Government of Iraq should, with the as-
sistance of the United States Government and inter-
national organizations, help ensure that displaced Iraqis 
considering return to Iraq have the proper information 
needed to make informed decisions regarding such re-
turn. 
Attest: 
Clerk.