Friday, 18th November 2011
Speech to Conference on Persecution of Minorities in the Middle East, Kaslik University, Lebanon
Speech by Struan Stevenson MEP to Conference on Persecution of Minorities in the Middle East, Kaslik University, Lebanon
The “Arab Spring” has been celebrated by many in the West as an end to dictatorship, an end to corruption and a gateway to liberal democracy in the Middle East. Though the protests themselves were marked by a lack of Arab Nationalist banners and an upsurge of support for the principles of freedom, democracy and cultural diversity, I think this was, however, a rather naïve view. Unfolding events in Egypt have shown that the overthrow of one dictator does not necessarily lead to peace and a voice for every citizen.
When I visited Baghdad in April this year, I was told by several Government Ministers that the Arab Spring was an attempt by the rest of the Middle East to emulate the new-found democracy in Iraq. Well I certainly hope that Iraq does not become a role model for Middle Eastern democracy. Let me tell you the facts about Iraq. The Americans are pulling out at the end of this year and leaving behind a shambles. There are only around 6 hours of electricity a day. Many people do not have access to clean drinking water. Security is tenuous. There are almost daily assassinations and mortar attacks. There is high unemployment and a stagnating economy. Iraq is listed internationally as the second most corrupt country in the world....only Somalia is worse.
Neighbouring Iran pulls the political strings in Iraq. The Erbil Agreement on which the coalition government was founded had fourteen articles, none of which have been implemented. The key ministries of Defence, Security and Interior which were supposed to be given to the Al Iraqiya Party, who won the election, have never been created. Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, who is a puppet of the mullahs in Tehran, has retained all of these key ministries in his own office, giving him the power of a dictator. He controls the army, the internal security services and even runs private prisons, where people are routinely tortured and held without access to legal representation, sometimes for years. This is not a functioning democracy. This is a sham and a disgrace!
Minorities in Iraq face discrimination on an almost routine basis. Assyrians, who have been subject to persecution for millennia, say that they have never suffered so much discrimination as in the past 8 years. In the brief period since the fall of Saddam, 70 churches have been attacked or bombed, and many individual Christians have been abducted, tortured and murdered, leading to over 50% of Assyrian Christians fleeing the country in fear for their lives. Figures are disputed, but it is estimated that of Iraq’s original 1.5million Christians in 2003, there now remain only around 450,000.
Many of these Christians lived in Kurdistan and fled to the rest of Iraq during the Saddam era, when he launched brutal attacks on the Kurds.
Now these Christian communities find themselves widely dispersed in Baghdad and across Iraq where they face daily assaults and threats from Islamic extremists. As a result, many have fled back to Kurdistan where the KRG welcomes them as refugees, but where there are few resources to provide them with food, shelter or medical care.
I met Fr Bashar Matti Warda, the New Chaldean Bishop of Erbil in April and he is doing great work with scarce resources for the returning Christian refugees there. But he told me to pass on a message to the many people in Europe who like to send money to build new churches in Kurdistan for their Christian brothers and sisters. He said "Please tell them that we don't need money for churches. We need money for hospitals, schools and houses."
The real problem is that when these people flee from their homes in Baghdad or elsewhere in Iraq and end up in Kurdistan, they not only lose their homes and their jobs, but they also often drop out of the social security network and as a result, lose their social welfare benefits and pension rights. So they are left virtually destitute and almost totally reliant on the charity of the Christian community in Kurdistan and the support of the KRG. There are now an estimated 2.8 million internally displaced persons inside Iraq alone, often living in squalid squatter camps, unable to access government safety-net programmes.
In Syria, of course the situation for Christians and other minorities is even worse. In the past, Christians and other minorities in Syria were well-integrated into the community, even with their own courts, and working alongside their Islamic countrymen in the army and other public services. But Syrian churches who have been helping the Christian refugees there, say they speak of being forced to convert to Islam or flee, women being told to wear Islamic dress and those who sell alcohol for communion being beaten.
Though constitutionally the President of Syria must be a Muslim, in practice the approach to minorities has in the past been moderate, suppressing extremism, and encouraging the integration of all religions. This does, however, exclude Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses to some extent, as their movements and employment opportunities are limited. Furthermore, there is a fear that if President Bashar al-Assad is overthrown then events may mimic those in other countries such as Egypt, where there has been widespread attacks and persecution.
Indeed, recent events in Egypt have been anything but promising. Although Coptic Christians make up around 10% of the Egyptian population of 85 million, last month, Egypt's military, under the auspices of the ruling Supreme Council of Armed Forces, initiated a clash with some Coptic Christians that led to a massacre of 26 people. An investigation into this outrage is being conducted by the military authorities themselves, leading to fears of a cover-up.
This was not an isolated incident. Twelve people were killed and hundreds injured the week before in a similar church attack and major attacks also occurred in March and January. The overthrowing of an autocrat has not led, in Egypt's case, to immediate democracy, but to an enforced military government which many fear could become a permanent and undemocratic fixture.
The question of democratic legitimacy has also been raised in relation to Libya with the supposed ending of the civil war, following the death of Colonel Gaddafi, particularly in view of revenge killings that have taken place in the past month in towns suspected of having harboured loyalist sentiments. The leader of the Transitional Council has proposed nationwide adherence to stringent Sharia Law and has already announced retrograde changes, such as renouncing the law against polygamy without any democratic back-up.
In Iran, Christians and virtually all minorities are also faring badly. The recent high-profile case of Pastor Nadarkhani, sentenced to death on a charge of apostasy, is one of a number of similar cases and clearly highlights again that the fascist regime in Tehran has no respect for human rights, women's rights, democracy or basic freedoms.
In Iraq, the Shabaks, Turkmen, Black Iraqis, Mandeans, Palestinians and Yazidis are all facing persecution of one kind or another. Some of the smaller minority groups are facing almost total extinction. There are approximately 1000 Bahá’ís, who are considered by many Muslims as apostates or heretics due to their belief in a post-Islamic religion, and who are refused citizenship documents, being therefore unable legally to leave the country. Mandeans, Yazidis, and Palestinians report scores of attacks and murders each year, and many have fled the country. I was told that there are now only 7 Jews remaining in Iraq, from a once thriving Jewish community, due to religious intolerance.
Kurds themselves are persecuted in Iraq and Syria in particular. Though the creation of the semi-autonomous Kurdish state in Iraq benefited them, they are still seen as second-class citizens. In Syria, where they make up approximately 10% of the population, they are also arbitrarily refused citizenship and up until recently, under the 30-year-old “state of emergency” laws, could be detained at will.
Though women are, of course, not a minority, they are nonetheless a minority voice in the Middle East and have endured subjugation in many Middle Eastern countries. In Syria for instance, women are seen as second-class citizens and are discriminated against both socially and legally. A rapist, for example, is not punished if he marries his victim; the killing of women because of alleged sexual misconduct is looked upon leniently and a husband can control whether or not his wife is allowed to travel abroad. In Egypt, the penal code does not effectively deter or punish domestic abuse and in practice, women are excluded from many professions such as being judges.
So the Arab Spring has not yet brought the surge of freedom that we all hoped and prayed for. There is much work yet to be done and much progress necessary. We need to see the integration of minorities into all of the major state organs, such as the police and the military and the full acceptance of citizenship and equality of rights of every citizen, and not simply the ruling elite. The days when colour, creed, religion, gender or sexual orientation could lead to discrimination are over.
In the immortal words of Nelson Mandela: "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others".
Struan Stevenson, Scottish Conservative MEP for Scotland and President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq.
