The Security Council was hosting an open debate on “The victims of attacks and abuses on ethnic or religious grounds in the Middle East”.
Archbishop Bernardito Auza, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN, said urged the international community to do all it can to prevent further victims of attacks and abuses for ethnic and/or religious grounds.
“Faced with the unbearable situation of living in a conflict zone controlled by terrorist and extremist organizations who constantly threaten them with death, and with a deep sense of feeling abandoned to their fate, by the legitimate authorities and the International Community, entire communities of Christians, especially from Northern Iraq, have been brutally forced to flee their homes and they have sought refuge in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and in the neighbouring countries of the region,” said Archbishop Auza.
He called on all “leaders and people of goodwill in the region and throughout the world to act before it’s too late” to prevent genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing and their incitement.
Archbishop Auza reminded the Security Council “when a State is unable or unwilling to uphold this primary responsibility [to protect its population from these crimes], the International Community must be prepared to take action to protect populations in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.”
The full text of the intervention by Archbishop Auza is below
Intervention of H.E. Archbishop Bernardito Auza,
Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the UN
United Nations Security Council Open Debate on
“The victims of attacks and abuses on ethnic or religious grounds in the Middle East”
New York, 27 March 2015
Mr. President,
At the very outset, the Holy See wishes to express its sincere gratitude to your Presidency for having convened today’s Open Debate on “the victims of attacks and abuses on ethnic or religious ground in the Middle East”. This debate is not only timely but it is most urgent, especially when we call to mind those who have already lost their lives, for whom this Open Debate has come too late. Their fate urges us to do all that we can to prevent further victims of attacks and abuses for ethnic and/or religious grounds. Christians and other religious minorities of the Middle East seek to be heard by this Council and other International fora, not in some abstract form, but in a manner that is truly conscious of their pain and suffering and their existential fear for their survival in the Middle East and beyond.
We must acknowledge that the problem exists and that the hour is grave. Ethnic and religious communities --- including Turkmen, Shabaks, Yazidi, Sabaeans, Kaka’e, Faili Kurds, Shi’ite Arabs and even Sunni Arabs and Kurds --- face extreme pressures, abuses of human rights, torture, killing and all forms of persecution purely for the faith they profess or for the ethnic group to which they belong.
The Christians in the Middle East have been specifically targeted, killed or forced to flee from their homes and countries. We have helplessly watched Assyrian Christians kidnapped in Iraq by the so-called “Islamic State” group, Egyptian Coptic Christians beheaded by ISIL-affiliated organizations in Libya, and the near elimination of Christians in Mosul. Only 25 years ago, there were nearly two million Christians living in Iraq; while the most recent estimates are less than a quarter of this figure. Faced with the unbearable situation of living in a conflict zone controlled by terrorist and extremist organizations who constantly threaten them with death, and with a deep sense of feeling abandoned to their fate, by the legitimate authorities and the International Community, entire communities of Christians, especially from Northern Iraq, have been brutally forced to flee their homes and they have sought refuge in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and in the neighbouring countries of the region.
The Holy See expresses profound gratitude to countries and leaders in the region who openly defend the Christians as an integral part of the religious, historical and cultural fabric of the region. For 2,000 years, Christians have called the Middle East ho me; indeed, as we all know, the Middle East is the cradle of Christianity.
Thus, it pains us so deeply that these ancient Christian communities in the region --- many of whom still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ --- are among those threatened with extinction. Their uninterrupted existence in the region is testimony of many centuries of coexistence, side by side, with Muslims and other religious and ethnic communities. These communities are an integral part of the cultural religious identity of the Middle East, thus their disappearance from the Middle East would not only be a religious tragedy but a loss of a rich cultural-religious patrimony that contributes so much to the societies to which they belong, and which the whole world has much interest to preserve.
The Holy See, therefore, calls on all the leaders and people of goodwill in the region and throughout the world to act before it’s too late. In 2005, at the United Nations World Summit, the entire International Community agreed that every State has the primary responsibility to protect its populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing and their incitement. Moreover, the International Community recognizes its responsibility to assist States in fulfilling their primary responsibility. However, when a State is unable or unwilling to uphold this primary responsibility, the International Community must be prepared to take action to protect populations in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
As Pope Benedict XVI underlined in his Address to the United Nations General Assembly in 2008, this responsibility to protect is not a novel creation in international law, but rather is rooted in the ancient ius gentium as the foundation of every action taken by those in government with regard to the governed.
Building on this ancient tradition and its reiterations in the international humanitarian law and in today’s United Nations fora, Pope Francis has repeatedly called upon the International Community “to do all that it can to stop and to prevent further systematic violence against ethnic and religious minorities.”
The Holy See avails of this opportunity to convey its deep appreciation to countries in the region and to all those who work tirelessly, even risking their lives, to provide assistance to some two and a half million internally displaced persons in Iraq, to 12 million Syrians in need of humanitarian assistance, of which four million are living as refugees and seven and a half million are internally displaced. Let us help these neighbourly countries as they care for and welcome the refugees.
Mr. President,
Delay in action will only mean more people will die, be displaced or persecuted. Pope Francis exhorts us all to join our efforts to support a Middle East that will continue to be a welcoming home for all its ethnic and religious groups.
Thank you, Mr. President.