07624
October 2, 2007

International silence on Iraq’s humanitarian crisis needs to be broken, WCC governing body says

By Juan Michel
WCC News and Information

ETCHMIADZIN, Armenia — The members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) have been asked to engage “their own governments over the need to break the international silence on the humanitarian crisis in Iraq and provide greater assistance to displaced and refugee Iraqis.”
The call is part of a “Statement on Iraq and its Christian communities” issued by the WCC executive committee at the end of its Sept. 25-28 here.

The statement affirms that although the “basic well-being and human rights of substantial portions of Iraqi society are heavily degraded after decades of wars and chaos, and remain under grave threat … the suffering of the Iraqi people remains largely unrecognized and unresolved.”

According to the statement, one-third of the Iraqi population is in need of emergency and humanitarian assistance, while more than half live in “abject poverty or worse.” The “prevalence of violence” by non-state armed groups, regular armed forces and criminal groups affects people in most parts of the country, causing “heavy casualties, fear, deprivation and emigration.” As a result, one Iraqi in six is internally displaced or has fled the country.

Amid this situation, the fate of Iraq’s Christian communities, although it cannot be seen in isolation from that of other Iraqi communities, “gives churches around the world particular cause for concern and reason to respond,” the statement declares.

Christians represent only four percent of Iraq’s population, but they make up forty percent of its refugees, the statement notices.

The WCC statement praises “leading Muslim clerics who are using their authority to contain the violence in Iraq.” It suggests that “joint Christian-Muslim advocacy overseas for tolerance and co-existence in Iraq would send a powerful signal to Iraqis of all faiths.”

The WCC governing body statement calls on the Council’s member churches to keep “the people and churches of Iraq in their prayers” and to provide “increased assistance to them for church life and for service to a society in great need.” They are also requested to support displaced people inside Iraq and Iraqi refugees abroad — currently more than two million people — as well as to raise awareness in their parishes and countries concerning Iraqi people’s plight.

Noting that “strategies based on the use of force have driven the country into chaos,” the statement recalls “once again that policies of occupation do not have international church support.”

In a separate “Minute on Iran and the Middle East regional crisis,” the WCC executive committee reaffirmed its support for a “withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq and the implementation of alternative Iraqi and multilateral political, economic and security programs.”

The global alliance Action by Churches Together (ACT) International — which includes the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) — has recently launched an $873,000 appeal to support Iraqi internally displaced people as well as refugees in neighboring countries. There are an estimated 1.4 million Iraqi refugees in Syria and about 750,000 in Jordan.