The EP, the directly elected parliamentary body of the European Union, cited in a landmark resolution "recent violent events in Iraq, including the kidnapping of two Catholic priests, Fathers Pius Afas and Mazen Ishoa," last month in Mosul and earlier assassinations in that town "of two Assyrian Christian members of the organization National Union of Bet-Nahrin, Zuhair Youssef Astavo Kermles and Luay Solomon Numan on June 28 and " a Chaldean priest, P. Ragheed Ganni, and of three deacons who were his assistants," June 3, this year.
In addition, "in recent years hundreds of Assyrian Christian families living in the Dora neighborhood in the south of Baghdad have left the city as a result of intimidation, threats and violence," the EP said, adding that "the exodus of Christians from Iraq is cause for serious concern." In 2006, of a total of 38 000 Iraqis registered by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Syria, about 24 percent were Christian, according to EP figures. "More than two million people have been internally displaced within Iraq, the vast majority of them belonging to Christian minorities, and are mainly moving to the Nineveh plains," the EP resolution said.
It also "deplored" the situation of Assyrian Christian villages in Turkish border areas such and expressed "concern at the recent violent events in Pakistan, including the attack on a Christian church on October 10 in Godwinh on the outskirts of Lahore," as well as "the bombing on September 15 hat damaged the Saint John Bosco Model School, a school run by Mill Hill missionaries in the district of Bannu and the assassination of the Protestant Bishop Arif Khan and his wife on August 29 in Islamabad," BosNewsLife learned.
TURKEY KILLINGS
It said it is also "horrified by the attacks on the Christian publishing house Zirve on April 18 in Malatya, Turkey," in which three Christians, Tilmann Geske, Necati Aydin and Ugur Yuksel, "were murdered," and said it also recalled its "strong condemnation of the [earlier] murders of [journalist] Hrant Dink and the Catholic priest Andrea Santoro."
Elsewhere the EP condemned the "murder in Gaza of Rami Khader Ayyad, owner of a Christian library," on October 7 and said it was "saddened by the murder of two young Copts, Wasfi Sadek Ishaq and Karam Klieb Endarawis, on October 37 in Awlad Toq Garb in Egypt."
Asia was also an area of concern, the EP said, citing China "where the authorities continue to repress any religious expression, particularly by the Catholic Church, many of whose members and bishops have been imprisoned for a number of years and some of whom have died in prison." The EP resolution also expressed concern about Vietnam where "the activities of the Catholic Church and of other religious communities have been severely repressed, as is demonstrated by the serious situation facing the communities of Vietnamese [degar] ‘montagnards’". Hundreds of predominantly Christian Degar Montagnards remain in prisons across the country, BosNewsLife established.
ENDANGERING FUTURE
The EP said it has learned that "in some cases the situation facing Christian communities is such as to endanger their future existence, and if they were to disappear, this would entail the loss of a significant part of the religious heritage of these countries." It urged governments to respect international human rights treaties and "bring to justice the perpetrators of these crimes."
It also said the European Commission and other decision making bodies to "raise the subject of the situation of the Christian communities in the framework of the political dialogue with the countries where [Christians] are threatened," especially in the Middle East. Advocacy groups claim at least 200 million Christians are persecuted for their faith worldwide.
In published remarks, EP Vice President Mario Mauro said “Religious freedom is the test for other freedoms and rights, and the persecution of Christians throughout the world is one of the greatest challenges to human dignity." (With BosNewsLife’s Stefan J. Bos and BosNewsLife Research).
