The European Parliament adopted a report on human rights
in the world, paying close attention to EU action for the human rights of
minorities. The report also comments on a range of new measures, including the
creation of an EU Special Representative on Human Rights, calls for a
consistent implementation of the European human rights policy and demands that
the EU introduce detailed human rights benchmarks for future cooperation on all
policy areas.
According to the report, which was drawn up by MEP
Richard Howitt, traditional national minority communities "have specific
needs, which are different from other minority groups, and (that) there is a
need to safeguard equal treatment of these minorities with regard to education,
healthcare, social services and other public services." The EU must
"promote, in all areas of economic, social, political and cultural life,
full and effective equality between persons belonging to a national minority
and those belonging to the majority". The report further believes that funding
lines for support to civil society and human rights defenders, particularly
from indigenous communities, should have their budget increased.
In a speech to the European Parliament EU High
Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton highlighted the commitment
to encounter "discrimination against people of faith", mentioning
Christians in particular. Baroness Ashton stressed that "the EU needs to
strengthen its policy on the Freedom of Religion or Belief, which is so
fundamental to a free society.
EU must deliver on its commitments by addressing human
rights violations against Iraqi minorities
The Assyria Council of Europe (ACE) welcomes the European
Parliament's step towards a better protection of minorities. However, the
European Union must go beyond rhetoric and deliver on its commitments. The
European Commission, in particular the European External Action Service, must
ensure to use its diplomatic, trade and development powers to support the
rights of indigenous and minority people.
Iraqi minorities, like Assyrians (also known as Syriacs
and Chaldeans), Sabean-Mandaeans and Yezidi are being persecuted and
systematically driven out of their ancestral country. They are subjected to a
pattern of official discrimination, marginalisation and neglect. They neither
receive sufficient protection by the Iraqi and Kurdish government nor do they
enjoy fundamental rights that guarantee their existence in Iraq. The riots in
Zakho that spread across North Iraq late 2011 and the way Kurdish authorities were
dealing with the conflict are just one example of unequal treatment of ethnic
and non-Islamic minorities within the KRG region. At least 20 businesses in
Zakho and a dozen of other properties and businesses in other places in North
Iraq owned by Assyrian Christians were burnt, and more than 30 people were
injured. Until now, the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has not made efforts
to investigate and punish the perpetrators, or compensate the victims of the
attacks. At the same time EU representatives are welcoming Kurdish politicians
without addressing the human rights situation of minorities in the KRG region.
ACE's latest Human Rights Report demonstrates that a huge exodus has taken
place since 2003 which marks the biggest threat to the survival of minorities
in Iraq. More than half of the Assyrian community has left Iraq since 2003.
Assyria Council of Europe calls upon the European
Commission to pay more attention to vulnerable groups in Iraq in its external
policy actions in Iraq, and to take definitive actions to guarantee the rights
of Iraqi minorities.
Assyria Council of Europe
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