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Smith-Eshoo
Bill Will Provide Emergency Relief to Christians and Other Religious Minorities
Who Survived ISIS Genocide
WASHINGTON—Following
his December 2016 mission to Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq to meet with
Christian survivors of ISIS genocide, Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), along with his
Democratic colleague Rep. Anna Eshoo (CA-18), today reintroduced their bipartisan
legislation to provide emergency relief to survivors of genocide and ensure
accountability for perpetrators.
The
Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act (H.R. 390) is
an enhanced version of the Smith-Eshoo bill (H.R. 5961) they introduced in
114th Congress.
“The
reintroduction of this bill is timely because just last month I saw in Iraq the
lack of humanitarian aid for Christian genocide survivors. These genocide
survivors told me the United States and global community had abandoned them.
They are at-risk from freezing winter temperatures and require emergency help,”
said Smith.
“Tens
of thousands of Christian genocide survivors in Iraq and Syria need our help
now and it is essential that emergency humanitarian aid for the survivors be
provided,” said Rep. Eshoo. “I thank Chairman Smith for his passionate
leadership on this issue and I look forward to working with him and all my
colleagues in Congress to quickly move this aid package and bring relief to
those who continue to suffer.”
The
Syriac Orthodox Archbishop of Mosul, Nicodemus Sharaf, who had to seek refuge
in Erbil from ISIS, told Smith, “We are the last people to speak the Aramaic
language. Without help, we are finished.”
The
Chaldean Catholic Archdiocese of Erbil invited Smith to Erbil and has been
supporting more than 70,000 Christians who escaped ISIS – almost 1/3 of the
250,000 Christians remaining in Iraq – with food, shelter, and medical care. It
also serves Yezidis and Muslims displaced by ISIS. The Archdiocese has had to
rely entirely on donations from organizations like the Knights of Columbus and
Aid to the Church in Need.
“Because
the U.S. Government and United Nations have so far failed to support this
life-saving work of the Archdiocese of Erbil, these Christian genocide
survivors continue to hang on the edge between life and death, ” added Smith.
Among
its key provisions, H.R. 390 directs the U.S. Administration to:
• Support entities that are
effectively serving genocide survivors in-country, including faith-based
entities;
• Support entities that are
conducting criminal investigations into perpetrators of genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes in Iraq and Syria;
• Create a “Priority Two”
(“P-2”) designation that Christians and other genocide survivors from religious
and ethnic minority communities are of “special humanitarian concern to the
United States” and therefore able to access an overseas application interview
for the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program without needing a referral from the UN;
• Vet P-2 refugee applicants
like any other Iraqi or Syrian refugee applicant and not admit them to the U.S.
unless they have cleared this vetting;
• Assess and address the
humanitarian vulnerabilities, needs, and triggers that might force survivors to
flee their homes;
• Identify warning signs of
deadly violence and other forms of persecution against genocide survivors from
vulnerable religious and ethnic minority communities, or against other members
of these communities, in Iraq or Syria;
• Identify gaps in U.S. law
so that the American justice system can prosecute foreign perpetrators of
genocide, crimes against humanity, or war crimes present in the U.S., as well
as any Americans who commit such crimes;
• Encourage foreign countries
to add identifying information about suspected perpetrators of such crimes to
their security databases and security screening.
The
other original 15 cosponsors are Rep. Mark Meadows (R), Rep. Juan Vargas (D),
Rep. Pete Sessions (R), Rep. Dan Lipinski (D), Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R), Rep.
Louise Slaughter (D), Rep. Trent Franks (R), Rep. Robert Pittenger (R), Rep.
Gus Bilirakis (R), Rep. Randy Hultgren (R), Rep. Randy Weber (R), Rep. David
Trott (R), Rep. Sean Duffy (R), Rep. Jody Hice (R), and Rep. Barbara Comstock
(R).
Background
The
Smith-Eshoo bill is supported by many groups, including the Knights of
Columbus, Family Research Council, In Defense of Christians, 21st Century
Wilberforce Initiative, Commission for International Justice and
Accountability, HIAS, Aid the Church in Need USA, Open Doors, A Demand for
Action, Yezidi Human Rights Organization International, Religious Freedom
Institute, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Syrian Accountability Project, and
Civitas Maxima.
It
is also supported by all the former US Ambassadors-at Large for War Crimes,
David Scheffer (1997-2001), Pierre Prosper (2001-2005), Clint Williamson
(2006-2009), and Stephen Rapp (2009-2015), as well as the Founding Chief
Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, David Crane; Director of the
Center for Religious Freedom Nina Shea; and the author of Defying ISIS, Rev.
Johnnie Moore.
Since
2013, Rep. Smith has chaired nine congressional hearings on atrocities in Iraq
and Syria, including one titled The ISIS Genocide Declaration: What Next? and
another titled Atrocities in Iraq and Syria: Relief for Survivors and
Accountability for Perpetrators. He authored the bipartisan H. Con. Res 121,
which the House passed overwhelmingly and calls for the formation of an ad hoc
tribunal for perpetrators of crimes against humanity and war crimes in the
Syrian conflict. Smith also authored with Eshoo the bipartisan, historic Frank
Wolf International Religious Freedom Act (H.R. 1150), which the President
signed into law. Smith and Eshoo also introduced H.R. 5961, the forerunner to
H.R. 390.
Just
before Christmas, Smith traveled to the Erbil area of Kurdistan region of Iraq
to meet with Christian genocide survivors and visit a camp for 6,000 displaced
Christians, managed and supported by the Archdiocese of Erbil. He also met with
Christian leaders, non-governmental organizations, and officials from the U.S.,
countries like Hungary and Poland that are proactively supporting assistance to
Christian genocide survivors, and the United Nations.
Christians
have lived in Iraq since the 1st century and there were as many as 1.4 million
in 2002. Sectarian violence and targeting of Christians reduced their presence
to 500,000 by 2013, the year before ISIS started its genocide against them. At
the end of 2015, less than 250,000 Christians remained in Iraq.
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The
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S.
Helsinki Commission, is an independent agency of the Federal Government charged
with monitoring compliance with the Helsinki Accords and advancing
comprehensive security through promotion of human rights, democracy, and
economic, environmental and military cooperation in 57 countries. The
Commission consists of nine members from the U.S. Senate, nine from the House
of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense,
and Commerce.
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