"La situazione sta peggiorando. Gridate con noi che i diritti umani sono calpestati da persone che parlano in nome di Dio ma che non sanno nulla di Lui che è Amore, mentre loro agiscono spinti dal rancore e dall'odio.
Gridate: Oh! Signore, abbi misericordia dell'Uomo."

Mons. Shleimun Warduni
Baghdad, 19 luglio 2014

31 ottobre 2010

Two priests killed in the attack at Our Lady of Salvation church in Baghdad

By Baghdadhope*

Worsened the balance of the attack carried out this afternoon to the Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation.
The first rumors that Baghdadhope gathered since 8.00 p.m. Italian time from some sources of the church who prefer not to be mentioned talked about a priest killed but it was a piece of news to be confirmed that unfortunately now it is.
To die, killed by the terrorists in the first moments of the attack was not only Father Thair Sad-alla Abd-al, but also Father Waseem Sabeeh Al-kas Butros. As for Father Rufail Qutaimi Baghdadhope's sources refers that he was wounded and he is in severe health conditions.
According to the same sources the attack is not yet over and the terrorists would still be inside the church. Nothing is known by now of the exact number of the wounded and the victims.
The voices from Baghdad talk about corpses unrecognizable for the bombs exploded inside the church and that the terrorists divided the people into 4 groups putting among them the bombs. Considering the difficulty with which the news are filtering out of Baghdad is expected, however, for the Syriac Catholic Church to issue an official statement on what happened today.

Moving the words of a young Chaldean priest from Baghdad who told to Baghdadhope: "That church resembles a ship. For us, it's the ship that now takes us in the tempest."

In the meantime Msgr. Warduni confirmed to Baghdadhope the death, this morning, of Msgr. Petrus Harbouli, Chaldean bishop of Zakho, who in mid-September was hospitalized after a severe brain haemorrhage.
The funeral service will be held in Zakho but neither the Patriarch of the Chaldean church, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly nor Msgr. Warduni will partecipate to it considered the situation in Baghdad and that, as stated by Msgr. Warduni: "we want to be near to the Syriac Catholic church in these tragic moments."
Msgr. Warduni has not confirmed by now the piece of news about the killing of the two priests.

Due sacerdoti uccisi nell'attacco della chiesa di Nostra Signora della Salvezza a Baghdad

By Baghdadhope*

Si aggrava il bilancio dell'attacco effettuato oggi pomeriggio alla chiesa siro cattolica di Nostra Signora della Salvezza.
Le prime voci che Baghdadhope aveva raccolto da alcune fonti della chiesa che preferiscono non essere nominate già verso le 20.00 ora italiana parlavano di un sacerdote ucciso ma si trattava di una notizia da verificare che purtroppo ora lo è stata.
A morire, uccisi dai terroristi nei primi momenti dell'attacco non è stato solo Padre Thair Sad-alla Abd-al, ma anche Padre Waseem Sabeeh Al-Kas Butrous. Per quanto riguarda Padre Rufail Qutaimi le fonti di Baghdadhope riferiscono che è stato ferito e che si trova in gravi condizioni.
Secondo le stesse fonti l'attacco non sarebbe ancora terminato ed i terroristi si troverebbero ancora all'interno della chiesa. Nulla si sa invece per ora dell'esatto numero dei feriti e delle vittime. Le voci da Baghdad parlano di persone irriconoscibili per gli ordigni scoppiati all'interno della chiesa e che i terroristi avrebbero diviso i presenti in 4 gruppi ponendo tra loro le bombe.
Considerando la difficoltà con cui le notizie stanno filtrando da Baghdad si attende comunque che la chiesa siro cattolica emetta un comunicato ufficiale su ciò che è accaduto oggi.
Commoventi le parole di un giovane sacerdote caldeo di Baghdad che a Baghdadhope ha detto:
"Quella chiesa ha la forma di una nave. Per noi rappresenta la nave che ora ci porta nella tempesta."

Nel frattempo Mons. Warduni ha confermato a Baghdadhope anche il decesso, questa mattina, di Mons. Petrus Harbouli, vescovo caldeo di Zakho che alla metà di settembre era stato ricoverato dopo una grave emorragia cerebrale.
La cerimonia funebre per Mons. Harbouli si terrà a Zakho ma nè il patriarca della chiesa caldea, Cardinale Mar Emmanuel III Delly nè lo stesso Mons. Warduni vi presenzieranno considerata la situazione a Baghdad e che, come affermato da Mons. Warduni: "Vogliamo stare vicini alla chiesa siro cattolica in questi momenti tragici."
Mons. Warduni non ha per ora confermato le voci circa l'uccisione dei due sacerdoti.

Attack at a church in Baghdad. Msgr. Warduni:"The terrorists follow the paths of the devil"

By Baghdadhope*

"It 'a great tragedy, something unfair and irresponsible. We pray for God to enlighten the minds and the hearts of the terrorists who should think of the good of the people, of their families, and do not follow these paths that are not the paths of God but those of the devil."
With these words Msgr.Warduni, Chaldean Patriarchal Vicar of Baghdad, described to Baghdadhope the attack on the Syriac Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation that took place this afternoon.

"The attack occurred at around 18:00 or 18:30. I can't be more precise because just at that time I was celebrating the holy mass."
The media are writing about victims, what do you know about them?
"By now I know there are casualties among the guards outside the church and that a little girl was killed. But since the terrorists were kamikaze I can't exclude other wounded and other victims."
It is said that among the hostages there were also 19 nuns, a piece of news that you can confirm?
"I do not know exactly who were the hostages and so I can't confirm that among them there were the sisters or not. No one is allowed to approach the area where the church is. We tried to call also the two priests who were present at the moment of the attack, Father Sahir and Father Wasim but they did not answer to our calls and we do not know why, maybe they can't or maybe their phones were seized."
At the time of the attack the Syriac Catholic bishop, Msgr. Matti Shaba Matoka was in the church?
"No, the bishop has not yet returned to Baghdad after attending the synod for the Middle East in Rome."
Such an attack, with hostage-taking in a church had never happened in Iraq ...
"As reported by Ishtar TV the kamikaze are part of the group of the Islamic State of Iraq and demanded the release of all terrorists of Al Qaeda imprisoned in Iraq and Egypt. By now we know nothing more except that it is a great tragedy for all the Iraqi people."

According to some reports received by Baghdadhope from other sources of the church but not yet confirmed the priests present at the time of the attack would be three, Father Sahir, Father Wasim and Father Rufail.

Attacco ad una chiesa di Baghdad. Mons. Warduni. "I terroristi seguono le vie del demonio"

By Baghdadhope*
"E' una grande sciagura,una cosa ingiusta ed incosciente. Noi preghiamo perchè Dio illumini le menti ed i cuori dei terroristi che dovrebbero pensare al bene della gente, delle proprie famiglie e non seguire queste vie che non sono le vie di Dio ma quelle del demonio."

Con queste parole Mons. Warduni, vicario patriarcale caldeo di Baghdad, ha commentato a Baghdadhope l'attacco alla chiesa siro cattolica di Nostra Signora della Salvezza avvenuto oggi pomeriggio.
"L'attacco è avvenuto verso le 18.00 -18.30. Non posso essere più preciso perchè proprio a quell'ora stavo celebrando la santa messa."
Monsignore, si parla di vittime, lei cosa sa?
"Per ora so so che ci sono vittime tra le guardie all'esterno della chiesa e che è stata uccisa una bambina. Dato però che si tratta di kamikaze non posso escludere che ci siano altri feriti ed altre vittime."
Si dice che tra gli ostaggi ci fossero anche 19 suore, è una notizia confermata?
"Io non so esattamente chi ci fosse tra gli ostaggi e quindi non posso confermare che tra essi ci fossero delle suore o meno. A nessuno è permesso avvicinarsi alla zona dove si trova la chiesa. Abbiamo provato a telefonare anche ai due sacerdoti presenti, Padre Sahir e Padre Wasim, ma non hanno risposto alle nostre chiamate e non sappiamo perchè, forse non possono o forse sono stati loro sequestrati i telefoni."
Monsignore, al momento dell'attacco era presente anche il vescovo siro cattolico, Mons. Matti Shaba Matoka?
"No, il vescovo non è ancora tornato a Baghdad dopo avere partecipato al sinodo per il Medio Oriente di Roma."
Monsignore, un attacco del genere, con presa di ostaggi in una chiesa non era mai avvenuto in Iraq...
"Secondo quanto riferito da Ishtar TV i kamikaze appartengono al gruppo dello Stato Islamico dell'Iraq ed hanno chiesto la liberazione di tutti i terroristi di Al Qaeda detenuti in Iraq ed in Egitto. Per ora non sappiamo altro, solo che è una grande tragedia per tutto il popolo iracheno."

Secondo alcune notizie pervenute a Baghdadhope da altre fonti della chiesa ma ancora da confermare i sacerdoti presenti al momento dell'attacco sarebbero tre, Padre Sahir, Padre Wasim e Padre Rufail.

29 ottobre 2010

Wikileaks and the Swedish Immigration Policy on Iraqi Refugees

By AINA Stockholm 29 October 2010

WikiLeaks released the largest classified military leak in history, reports that shed new light on the Swedish asylum and migration policy. Nuri Kino, a Swedish journalist who has reported extensively on Iraqi refugees in Sweden, is demanding that the documents should be used for decisions in every Iraqi asylum case in Sweden.

Addressing Sweden's minister of Migration, Tobias Billström, Mr. Kino said:

Do you need more proof than the 400,000 pages of American intelligence reports that cover the war from its beginning until now? The Iraqi army is trained and supported by the Iranian army. All those who have different views than the Shiite mullahs can and will be killed. The Iraqi police are infiltrated with terrorists. The Swedish jails that imprison arrested deportees are emptied every third week and almost immediately refilled with newly arrested Iraqis. Every third week an airliner departs filled with deportees guarded by the Swedish police.

The Swedish Aliens Act is written to protect persons from countries whose authorities cannot protect them. The Iraqi government cannot protect rejected asylum seekers who have been forcibly expelled from Sweden and dumped in Baghdad airport. You, Mr. Billström are going to reply to this with the excuse that Sweden has a legal system for refugees to appeal the Migration Board's decision to the Migration Court of Appeals -- this is why the system is just and legal. You are wrong. My colleagues and I have reported several times the defects in the asylum and refugee system. We have examined your system of justice and have arrived that it has major faults. Now bite into the sour apple and admit that it's a mistake to forcibly deport many of the Iraqis who have been arrested by the Swedish police. Disregard your prestige and your career and think about human lives instead.

Susanne Palme in Sweden Radio's community and current affairs program Studio One reported recently about these airplanes to Baghdad that depart every third week and that 8000 cases leading to an arrest have been given to the police. Sweden cooperates with Norway, Great Britain and Holland to hasten forced deportations. So far this year eleven specially chartered airplanes have departed for Baghdad organized by the police in Stockholm. The Iraqi refugees are given $100 and are handed over to the Iraqi authorities in Baghdad. This form of forcible deportation has been severely criticized by, among others, The UN's refugee commission, UNCHR -- something that Sweden wishes to ignore. Daniel Endres at the UNCHR offices in Baghdad called Iraq "a lawless land" where no one can count on for protection.

Now, that Wikileaks have released the intelligence reports that Swedish Television, and every other media outlet, have read and reported on, can the Migration Board, the Migration Court of Appeals or you, the Minister of Migration still maintain that Sweden has the right to deport Iraqi refugees? It is against the law in Sweden to deport people who cannot be protected in their homeland! Mosul has been called "Iraq's murder capital." Not long ago a Christian Iraqi was expelled back to Mosul from Sweden. "This is shocking!" UNHCR's Daniel Endres stated. What he wasn't aware of is that thousands of Christians from Iraq have been rejected and many who are from Mosul have been arrested and deported. To remain alive they had no choice but to flee Iraq once again. To stop these insidious deportations, Endres plans to visit a number of European capitals to openly protest and complain about the forced deportations that have been organized by the Swedish government.

I have personally followed many of the deportees and the great majority of them have fled to Iraq's neighboring countries. A few of them have later been granted refugee status by the UN and are either on their way to the USA, Canada or Australia or have already arrived there. Mr. Billström, you are making Sweden look like an inhumane nation. People who arrived in our country in desperation, people who are in acute need protection are made to look like criminals by the very process of appealing for asylum. These are not gangsters; they are in need of help. If you don't want them to have the right of protection in Sweden then you should cooperate with Jimmie Åkesson (head of the anti immigrant Swedish Democratic Party) and change the asylum law. You should be fighting for a new Alien Act where it's stated it no longer makes any difference if you are personally persecuted in your homeland and that it's not relevant if that country that you have fled from can protect you or not. Up to now the Swedish Migration Authorities are breaking the law when it, for example, deports a Sunni teacher who has worked as an interpreter for the Americans and is now accused of being a "spy" by a Shiite militias. They break the law when they expel victimized Christians and other vulnerable minorities to a country where the authorities cannot protect them. Now the question is if the Swedish Migration Authority's and you, Tobias Billström, should be placed before a court of justice and, perhaps used as evidence against you, should be Wikileaks 400,000 pages of intelligence material.

Nuri Kino together with his colleague Kajsa Norell were winners of the European Parliaments Journalist Prize

26 ottobre 2010

Tareq Aziz. Mons. Warduni (Baghdad) "Condanniamo la pena capitale" Mons. Sleiman (Baghdad) "Potrebbe essere un messaggio"

By Baghdadhope*

"Condanniamo in ogni caso la pena capitale"
con queste parole Mons. Warduni ha commentato a Baghdadhope la pena di morte inflitta dalla corte irachena a Tareq Aziz, vice premier ai tempi del regime baathista.
Aziz, il cui vero nome è Michael Yohanna, è nato a Tel Keif nel 1936 da una famiglia cattolica caldea ed ha militato da subito nelle fila del partito Baath fino ad occuparne le più alte cariche. Subito dopo il rovescimento del regime nel 2003 si arrese alle truppe USA che lo ebbero in consegna fino allo scorso luglio quando fu affidato alla custodia delel autorità irachene.
Mons. Warduni ha affermato di avere appreso la notizia della condanna solo ieri mattina mentre era impegnato con gli altri vescovi caldei arrivati a Roma per il Sinodo per il Medio Oriente in un incontro di preparazione per il prossimo sinodo della chiesa che si terrà non prima del prossimo anno.
"Noi cristiani rispettiamo il diritto alla vita. La nostra fede ci porta a credere che a nessuno debba essere tolta la vita che Dio ha donato" ha spiegato, "ciò che noi chiediamo è la pace, la sicurezza e l'incontro tra le persone, non il loro scontro. Vogliamo il meglio per ogni essere umano."

Del caso Tareq Aziz ha parlato ieri sera anche Mons. Jean B. Sleiman, Arcivescovo latino di Baghdad, nel corso di un incontro sulla cristianità in Iraq svoltosi a Torino.
Premettendo di non essere a conoscenza dei particolari della condanna, Mons. Sleiman ha avanzato l'ipotesi che essa possa essere una sorta di "messaggio", di "stop" alle parti che in Iraq premono per la reintegrazione nella vita politica e sociale del paese degli appartenenti al disciolto partito Baath.
Tareq Aziz non era però l'argomento in discussione al Sermig, il Servizio Missionario Giovanile, dove si è tenuto l'incontro organizzato dall'Università del Dialogo.
Partendo dal recente Sinodo per il Medio Oriente Mons. Sleiman ha illustrato la situazione irachena in generale e quella dei cristiani in particolare.
Del Sinodo il prelato ha detto che "è andato benissimo" anche se, è ovvio, "non si possono risolvere tutti i problemi" ma anche che l'attenzione dei media si è troppo focalizzata sulle implicazioni politiche lette nei discorsi dei padri sinodali, specialmente quelli riguardanti la Terra Santa. Maggiore attenzione avrebbe dovuto essere rivolta invece, secondo Mons. Sleiman, alla Comunione che questo sinodo, con esponenti non solo del cattolicesimo ma anche dell'ortodossia, del protestantesimo, dell'islam e dell'ebraismo, ha rappresentato.
Per quanto riguarda la situazione degli iracheni cristiani la descrizione di Mons. Sleiman è stata di luci (poche) e di ombre (molte).
Pur ricordando come la sorte degli iracheni cristiani non possa essere separata da quella di tutti gli altri connazionali Mons. Sleiman ha sottolineato come per i primi la vita significhi "speranza in questi tempi cattivi, pazienza nell'attesa che il male venga sconfitto e una vita in cui per evitare problemi è meglio non apparire, non farsi notare."
La cristianità irachena "si è indebolita e per molti la soluzione è l'emigrazione." A spiegare questo fenomeno secondo Mons. Sleiman sono vari fattori: l'instabilità politica, i problemi economici, l'impossibilità di emergere nella vita pubblica e quindi costruirsi un futuro, ma soprattutto è "il non sentire più l'Iraq come la propria patria, l'aver paura che possa diventare una repubblica islamica."
Un rischio, questo, da non sottovalutare non solo perchè, come ha ricordato il vescovo, l'articolo 2 della Costituzione prevede che non possa essere approvata nessuna legge che contraddica le regole indiscusse dell’Islam, quanto perchè la condizione di Dhimmi* in cui i cristiani vivono, sebbene non sancita dalla legge, esiste nella psicologia comune e quindi nella pratica e fa di essi dei cittadini di serie B.
Una situazione che non è aiutata nè dalla mancanza di un governo* nè dalla stessa società irachena ancora basata sul sistema tribale che impedisce la creazione di uno stato super partes in grado di considerare tutti i suoi cittadini come uguali.
I cristiani sono perseguitati in Iraq? Secondo Mons. Sleiman "la persecuzione è limitata nel tempo e nello spazio ma la pressione psicologica e morale nei loro confronti è estesa."
A questo proposito, secondo il vescovo, in Iraq si possono elencare quattro situazioni diverse riguardo alla convivenza tra le parti, fermo restando che nella vita quotidiana dei singoli i gesti di fraternità non mancano:
1. Le zone in cui essa è impossibile
2. Le zone in cui non si può parlare di persecuzione nei confronti dei cristiani quanto piuttosto di "forti pressioni psicologiche e morali che li portano ad omologarsi agli usi ed ai costumi della maggioranza all'interno della quale vivono"
3. Isole, momenti di dialogo e reciprocità rappresentate ad esempio dalla presenza alle feste ma anche ai funerali dei cristiani di alcuni musulmani che testimoniano la volontà di condividere così le gioie ed i dolori dei loro connazionali di diversa fede.
4. Zone, come nel nord dell'Iraq, dove si cerca di applicare l'esperienza occidentale e dove maggiore è la libertà di coscienza.
Come aiutare gli iracheni cristiani. A questa domanda rivoltagli da una persona tra il pubblico Mons. Sleiman ha risposto come la base di tutto sia la conoscenza di quel mondo che si può ottenere attraverso la studio e l'informazione, e che per quanto complicato esso appaia non ci deve spaventare perchè bisogna solo "decidere di conoscere".
Ha poi anche parlato dei progetti in corso nella sua Arcidiocesi e che riguardano la necessità di "ricostruire l'Uomo" attraverso due percorsi principali: la salute, con due ospedali che fanno capo all'Arcidiocesi latina ed un terzo in costruzione, ed i giovani, il futuro della comunità, che stanno iniziando a riunirsi in associazioni e che devono avere degli spazi per crescere e maturare vivendo appieno la loro età e per i quali c'è spazio, anche per un campo di calcetto, nella cattedrale latina.
Non di solo Iraq ha però parlato Mons. Sleiman. Sollecitato a dare un consiglio a chi, in Occidente, affronta il problema della convivenza tra le diverse culture e religioni il prelato ha ricordato come "chi accoglie non deve rinunciare alla propria identità ed ai suoi valori" e come tocchi "a chi immigra integrarsi nel paese che lo accoglie".
Un concetto ribadito rispondendo alla domanda su cosa gli italiani/europei non hanno capito dell'Islam: "forse che colui che arriva è contento di trovare davanti a sè una persona che non nasconde la propria identità."
Un consiglio da una voce autorevole.

* Dhimmi: ebrei e cristiani (ma anche altre minoranze non islamiche) che ottengono protezione da parte della maggioranza islamica in cambio del pagamento di una tassa e che non godono di effettiva parità nella società.
* Dopo le elezioni di marzo 2010 ad oggi l'Iraq non ha ancora un governo effettivo
Note di Baghdadhope

Tareq Aziz condannato a morte


Baghdad, 26-10-2010
Tareq Aziz, vicepremier iracheno ai tempi di Saddam Hussein, è stato condannato all'impiccagione. A emettere la condanna per persecuzione dei partiti sciiti, un tribunale iracheno, come nel caso di Saddam, giustiziato il 30 dicembre 2006.
Arresti e condanne a morte furono portate a termine dal regime iracheno contro i principali esponenti politici sciiti.
Nel marzo 2009 Aziz era stato assolto in un altro processo del Tribunale Speciale Iracheno, dove era imputato per la morte di 42 persone, uccise nel 1999 dalla polizia irachena. Aziz è stato a lungo il volto del regime iracheno all’estero.
Mickhail Yuhanna, il vero nome di Aziz, è un cattolico caldeo.
Nato nel 1936 a Mosul, è stato ministro degli esteri e vicepremier. Nel 2003 è stato ricevuto anche da Papa Giovanni Paolo II.
Nel gennaio del 2009, il 73enne Aziz ha avuto un infarto e secondo il figlio, Ziad, “ha perso completamente la parola”. I problemi di salute del vicepremier di Saddam sono iniziati da quando nel 2003 si è arreso alle truppe americane. Nel 2009, durante altri due processi, è stato condannato a 22 anni per crimini contro l’umanità e perché colpevole di aver contribuito a pianificare la deportazione dei curdi.

Tariq Aziz sentenced to death

By guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 October 2010

by Martin Chulov in Baghdad

Saddam Hussein's most-powerful deputy, Tariq Aziz, was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court this morning for being personally involved in the killing of members of Shia Islamic religious parties after the first Gulf war.
Aziz, Iraq's former deputy prime minister and long-term face to the world, was condemned along with four other men, all of whom had been accused of persecuting and killing members of the Shia-dominated Dawa party, which was the main opposition group to Saddam during the 24 years he ruled Iraq.
Aziz, 74, was handed over by US forces to Iraqi custody earlier this year. He was listed as number 25 on George Bush's infamous deck of cards – a hitlist of regime figures who the invading US military had planned to kill or capture.
His family described the death sentence as a "travesty" and said the court that convicted him was like a theatre.
The death sentence was confirmed by Mohammed Abdul Sahab, the chief judge of Iraq's high criminal court, who told the Guardian Aziz may face further death sentences in the coming days and weeks.
Sahab said not all the charges against Aziz related to members of the Dawa party, which is now a key part of the Baghdad establishment and is led by Nouri al-Maliki, who is campaigning heavily for a second term as Iraq's prime minister.
Aziz had previously been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the deaths of 42 merchants who had been accused of manipulating food prices. He received a second seven-year sentence relating to the forced displacement of Kurds from northern Iraq. The latest trial started on 16 August this year. Judge Mohammed al-Hassan handed down today's death sentence.
In a prison interview with the Guardian in August, his first since the fall of Baghdad, Aziz asked: "Did I commit a crime against any civilian, military or religious man? The answer is no."
"Of course I was a member of the Revolutionary Command Council, a leader of the Ba'ath party, deputy prime minister, foreign minister – all of those posts were mine,"
he said, before claiming he was powerless to stop the will of Saddam.
"All decisions were taken by president Saddam Hussein. I held a political position, I did not participate in any of the crimes that were raised against me personally. Out of hundreds of complaints, nobody has mentioned me in person."
Aziz's son, Ziad, who was airlifted to Amman by US forces in return for his father's surrender in April 2003, described the death sentence as a "travesty" and said the court that had convicted him was like "a theatrical performance".
"None of the victims themselves accused him of any of the killings,"
he said.
"Not one person submitted any allegation, or made any claim against him."
"My father had been a victim of the Dawa party. They had tried to assassinate him during the 80s."
"This is just Maliki trying to avenge the Wikileaks allegations."
Aziz said his father had not been represented by a lawyer for more than 12 months. "Anyone who claims to have represented him recently is lying," he said.

25 ottobre 2010

Canada extends Iraqi refugee program to 2013

By CTV.ca, October 23, 2010

Canada is extending its Iraqi refugee program for another two years, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney announced Saturday, which will allow an additional 8,600 refugees to resettle in the country between 2011 and 2013.
Last year, the minister pledged to accept more than double the number of refugees who applied through Iraqis' most popular route to Canada -- the Canadian mission in Damascus. The government estimated that, between 2009 and 2011, approximately 2,500 refugees would be resettled through its private sponsorship program annually.
Earlier this year, Canada also increased the number of refugees it plans to resettle through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, from 1,400 to 1,800 per year.
Canada will extend both programs "by at least two additional years," Kenney said in a news release issued on Saturday, and called on Canadians to come forward as sponsors.
"Canada already has a generous resettlement program. And now, up to 8,600 more refugees will find protection in Canada," Kenney said. "At a time when many other countries are scaling back their refugee programs, we are actually expanding ours."
Earlier this year, the government pledged to boost the number of refugees it accepts annually by 20 per cent, including 2,000 more privately sponsored refugees and 500 additional government-sponsored refugees. In total, Canada accepts about 14,500 refugees per year.
The announcement comes at a time when the government is vowing to crack down on human smugglers and illegal migrants after two boatloads of Tamil residents arrived in Canadian waters seeking asylum.
On Thursday, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews introduced a new bill that would allow the government to designate those who arrive in Canada as part of a "human smuggling event" as "irregular arrivals." Such individuals could then be placed into a different processing stream than other refugees.
The bill would also make it more difficult for illegal migrants to qualify to remain in Canada, and increase penalties for those caught supporting human smuggling.
On Saturday, Kenney said "it is unfair to those seeking to come to Canada through legitimate, legal means -- such as the measure I am announcing today -- when others pay human smugglers to help jump our immigration queue. When this happens, Canada's immigration system becomes less fair and less balanced."

24 ottobre 2010

Tears and silence in the wake of the Vatican Synod of Mideast bishops

By Spero News Commentary

by Robert Moynihan, October 23, 2010

An old, white-bearded man walked out of the Synod aula and down the wide, sloping steps toward the waiting cars and buses, his long robe sweeping the square grey Vatican City cobblestones. He quickly left behind the light of the Paul VI Audience Hall entranceway and began to be engulfed by the darkening Roman evening. It was 6:30 p.m. this evening.
The man was His Beatitude Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, the 83-year-old Patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Iraq.
I'd been hoping to meet him. I turned to a fellow journalist who was waiting with me by the entrance to the Paul VI audience hall, and said, "That's Patriarch Delly, isn't it?" The journalist nodded.
Delly was already heading for the bus that would carry him and other Synod Fathers to their residence, so I hurried to catch up to him. He was walking with a taller man who appeared to be his personal secretary.
"Your Eminence," I said. "Could I have a word with you..."
"Yes?" said Delly, stopping and looking a me quizzically. "Go ahead." He seemed to me quite young for his 83 years, and when I held out my hand to shake his, his grip was unexpectedly firm.
He was about five foot eight, not a physically imposing man, but there was an energy in his gaze which surprised me. I had expected that, from close up, he might look old and weary, but he looked energetic and in good health.
I told him who I was and that I was writing on the Vatican and the Synod. He was silent and, it seemed, somewhat cold.
"And I wanted to ask you about the remarks you made the other night..."
"I have nothing more to say,"
he said. "What I had to say, I said to the Synod. I'm sorry."

A political murder?
I left Patriarch Delly and walked back to the entrance of the Synod hall. There, purely by chance, I tan into another prelate who has left his mark on this two-week Synod: Archbishop Ruggero Franceschini, an Italian Franciscan who is the succesor of the slain Italian Bishop Luigi Padovese as vicar of Anatolia.
Last Friday Franceschini spoke to the Synod -- the same afternoon as Delly.
"May I ask you about your talk?" I said.
"Sure," he said.
"You have a theory about Bishop Padovese and his murder last June, right?"
"Yes,"
Franceschini replied. "I believe it was premeditated murder arranged by ultra-nationalists and religious fanatics who do not want Turkey to enter Europe."
Padovese's driver, Murat Altun, 26, who had been in Padovese's employ for many years, shot him to death in June.
"He claimed the reason for the killing was a homosexual relationship he had with the bishop," Franceschini said. "But it seems that immediately after the murder he shouted 'Allah akbar! I killed the great Satan."
At the time, the Vatican and Turkish government stuck to the hypothesis that the killing took place for "personal reasons" excluding the possibility of a religious or political motive.
"I had a terrible time with the Secretariat of State," the Franciscan bishop said. "They wanted only the version of the nuncio, that it was an entirely personal matter, but it was not."
AS we stood there, many of the Synod Father walked past us: Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles, Cardinal Levada of the Congregation for the Doctrone of the Faith, Cardinal Tauran of Inter-religious Dialohgue, Cardinal-designate Burke, and many others.
"And what did you think of Patriarch Delly's talk?" I asked.
"I disagreed with it," he said. "But he must have his reasons for saying what he said," Franceschini said. "We don't know all his reasons."
"Well, they say someone got up in the Synod Hall right after he spoke, and was weeping and saying, 'Why are you saying these things?'"
"No, no,"
Franceschini said, "That's not what happened. I spoke before Patriarch Delly. And I was the one who wept. But it was about the murder of Monsignor Padovese..."

Once More, the Facts of this Peculiar "Patriarch Delly Case"
The Chaldean Church inside Iraq has shrunk in number from 1.5 million to less than 500,000 over the past seven years.
Delly, the leader of the Catholic Chaldeans, has in recent years often cried out publicly that his people are suffering a "Calvary" and need help from the rest of the world.
"The world has forgotten Iraq's Christians," Patriarch Delly said four years go, on October 16, 2006, following the murder of his friend, Father Paulos Eskandar. Delly said the indifference of the international community threatened the very existence of Christians in the Middle East.
"There is the danger that the Middle East, the blessed land of God, will be emptied of its Christian presence," Delly said then. "Already 80% have gone away."
Then on October 15, Delly asked for time to make some remarks to the Synod, and he was granted the time.
When he spoke, he said almost exactly the opposite of what he had been saying for seven years. Addressing the assembled bishops without a prepared text, this is what said (it is a translation, because he spoke in Italian). I'm printing this again here because I cannot make the argument for the strangeness of this text with out having it here to study:
"Many people want to hear something about Iraq that today occupies an important position in the Middle East, a position that is a little bit, if I say, exaggerated: I sincerely thank all those who have spoken about Iraq in this hall and have shown their sympathy for this country that is the cradle of Christians and especially the cradle of the Chaldean Church, the Eastern Church in the Persian Empire, and as of today, 78% of Mesopotamian Christians are Chaldean Catholics. The population of this country, crossed by two famous rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, is 24 million, all Muslims, with whom we live peacefully and freely. In Baghdad alone, the capital of Iraq, Christians have 53 chapels and churches. The Chaldeans have more than seven dioceses in the country, the Patriarch of the Chaldean Church lives today in Baghdad.
"Christians are good with their fellow Muslims and in Iraq there is mutual respect among them. Christian schools are highly thought of. Today people prefer to attend these schools directed by the Christian institutions, especially those run by the religious orders.
"Despite all the political and religious situations, and emigration, we now have nearly one million Christians in Iraq out of 25 million Muslims. We have the freedom of religion in our Churches. The Bishop or Priest, religious leader is listened to and respected by his fellow citizens. We have our own seminary, and Chaldean monks and nuns and religious."
(End, remarks of Patriarch Delly to the Synod of Bishops at the close of the day's session Friday, October 15, 2010)
In these paragraphs, there is no mention at all of the suffering of Iraq's Christians. Delly in this text is describing a country, seemingly, at peace.
I have bold-faced the words which seem optimistic, positive, hopeful, and put in a few notes after Delly's phrases:
"The population of this country... is 24 million, all Muslims, with whom we live peacefully and freely." (Note one oddity: Iraq's population, of course, is not "all Muslims" -- the Chaldeans are Iraqis. Why did Delly say this? It is not clear.)
"The Patriarch of the Chaldean Church (that is, Delly himself; he is speaking of himself here in the third person, instead of saying, "I") lives in Baghdad." (That is, he has not fled, or been forced to leave; he is still at home, in his community.)
"Christians are good with their fellow Muslims and there is mutual respect among them." (No hint of any tensions at all.)
"Despite all the political and religious situations, and emigration, we now have nearly one million Christians in Iraq out of 25 million Muslims." (He says "political and religious situations" instead of more negative words like "wars, invasions, car bombings, kidnappings, religious fanaticism" -- all these are subsumed under "situations". Then he says there are "nearly one million Christians in Iraq out of 25 million Muslims." Again an odd phrase, since one million Christians and 25 million Muslims would make 26 million Iraqis, not 25 million.)
"We have the freedom of religion in our Churches. The Bishop or Priest, religious leader is listened to and respected by his fellow citizens. We have our own seminary, and Chaldean monks and nuns and religious." (He says "we have freedom of religion in our Churches" -- but he does not say if there is freedom of religion in the country, in Iraq in general. He says the "religious leader" -- the word is in the singular; is he referring perhaps to himself? -- is "listened to and respected."
However, we know that Delly himself, despite his years of crying out on behalf of his people, has not been listened to. "We have our own seminary" he says -- but another Iraqi speaker said the seminary has actually been moved out of Baghdad because of a bombing incident, and reopened, but only hundreds of miles to the north.)

Seeking the meaning
On many occasions this week, I asked Synod participants and other journalists what they thought of Delly's remarks.
I was told variously that Delly is "misinformed," that his staff "no longer informs him of the true situation," that he "lives in a palace" and is now "out of touch" with the reality on the ground; that he has gotten "old and weary" of the struggle he faces; that he wishes to emphasize the positive because emphasizing the negative has not served any positive purpose; and that he is "afraid is stirring up anything."
Someone told me that a bishop from Turkey had been so upset with Delly's words that he had stood up with tears in eyes and asked Delly how he could speak in the way he had.
A couple of days ago, I wrote a piece suggesting that Delly may have been speaking in a veiled, or intentionally coded, way like that used by persecuted men in all countries when they wish to get a message across without arousing the ire of their persecutors.
I noted that Leo Strauss, the primary intellectual influence in the founding of the neo-conservative movement in America, had worked out a theory that in every age the persecuted must resort to elegant, imaginative subterfuges to get their true message across and not be consored, or silenced, as they try to fly "under the radar" of the "inquistors" of their time.

Pivotal moments
The intervention of Patriarch Delly was a pivotal moment in the Synod. Franceschini's talk was also.
What the Synod will lead to in terms of concrete action to help the Christians of the Middle East, I do not know.
But that the Christians of the region need the solidarity of Christians, and others of good will, from the rest of the world if they are to survive is clear.
This is what the silence of Delly, and the tears of Franceschini, mean.

Robert Moynihan PhD is the editor of
Inside the Vatican Magazine.

La questione cristiana orientale

By Medarabnews, 24 ottobre 2010

by Mohammad
Sammak

Versione originale, 15 ottobre 2010:
المسألة المسيحية الشرقية

I cristiani d’Oriente vivono una fase sempre più critica, ed il loro numero è in costante diminuzione; tuttavia, se essi scompariranno, il Medio Oriente non sarà più lo stesso; esso perderà la propria identità, il proprio ruolo ed il proprio messaggio – scrive il musulmano libanese Mohammad Sammak
***
I cristiani in Oriente attraversano una situazione preoccupante: il loro numero è in diminuzione ed il loro ruolo è in declino. Il persistere di questo fenomeno rappresenta una catastrofe nazionale sotto tutti i punti di vista: culturale, sociale, economico e politico. Se si verificherà una catastrofe del genere, non risparmierà nessuno dei paesi d’Oriente. Le leadership ufficiali di tali paesi sanno che questa situazione significa una perdita di cervelli e di forze produttive. Ciò si traduce in un’emorragia di competenze, di capacità, e di potenziale scientifico, di cui le società di questi paesi hanno estremo bisogno. Le leadership politiche sanno anche che la perdita della diversità che caratterizzava le società orientali, a causa dell’emigrazione cristiana, significa:
1) La riconfigurazione di queste società sulla base di “un unico colore”, cosa che porta al rafforzamento dell’estremismo inteso come rifiuto ed annullamento dell’altro.
2) Il radicamento di una cultura di chiusura a spese di una cultura di apertura.
Questi due elementi inviano al mondo un duplice messaggio:
a) che in Oriente non c’è posto per alcuni di coloro che vi abitano; che esso strangola la diversità e il pluralismo; e che tra le vittime di questo strangolamento vi è la libertà religiosa. In altre parole, questo messaggio significa che l’Islam non tollera il Cristianesimo in Oriente, dopo circa 1400 anni di convivenza concretizzatasi in una fiorente civiltà. Sebbene questa convivenza abbia registrato alti e bassi, essa non era mai venuta meno;
b) che i musulmani in Occidente potrebbero portare con sé questa cultura di rifiuto dell’altro, il che significherebbe che essi non sono in grado di adattarsi e di integrarsi nelle loro nuove società. Pertanto questo rifiuto costituisce una bomba sociale ad orologeria. Un messaggio di questo genere è destinato a gettare nuova benzina sul fuoco dell’islamofobia che già sta divampando, e che basa la propria forza distruttiva sull’ignoranza e sull’odio da un lato, e sulla reazione sbagliata di alcuni estremisti musulmani dall’altro. La mancata separazione, nella cultura islamica generale, fra Occidente e Cristianesimo fa di ogni problema fra Islam e Occidente un problema fra l’Islam e il Cristianesimo orientale, e fa quindi dei cristiani orientali un obiettivo “a portata di mano” delle reazioni ad alcune posizioni o ad alcuni comportamenti dell’Occidente, come è accaduto ultimamente in Iraq. Di conseguenza, i cristiani d’Oriente diventano vittime dell’azione occidentale non-cristiana, e della reazione orientale non-musulmana. Ciò aggrava le loro sofferenze ed accresce le loro preoccupazioni per il futuro.
Le leadership ufficiali sanno anche che i molteplici e svariati popoli del mondo, con le loro tradizioni, le loro culture, le loro lingue ed i loro colori differenti, hanno compenetrato i loro modi di vivere e intrecciato i loro interessi; sanno che i confini esistenti fra questi popoli, a causa della rivoluzione delle comunicazioni, sono diventati confini immaginari; sanno anche che – per quanto riguarda specificamente i musulmani e i cristiani – due terzi dei cristiani oggi vivono nei paesi dell’Asia, dell’Africa e dell’America del Sud, e ciò significa che il Cristianesimo non è più la religione dell’uomo bianco, né la religione del colonizzatore, né la religione dei popoli ricchi. Esso è la religione dei poveri, delle persone di colore, dei colonizzati e degli oppressi. Esso non è più la religione dell’Europa e degli Stati Uniti, ma la religione delle popolazioni che convivono fianco a fianco con i popoli musulmani, dall’Indonesia alla Nigeria. Queste leadership sanno che più di un quarto dei musulmani – i quali sono circa un miliardo e mezzo di persone – vivono in stati e società non islamici che vanno dall’America del Nord fino all’Australia, passando per l’Europa, la Cina e l’India.
Questi cambiamenti radicali impongono due possibili esiti: il conflitto sulla base del rifiuto e della sfiducia nell’altro, o la convivenza sulla base dell’amore e del rispetto delle differenze.
L’Oriente arabo può offrire un modello di successo per l’agognata formula della convivenza, sulla base del fatto che il messaggio cristiano e quello musulmano si sono diffusi a partire dall’Oriente; e sulla base del fatto che cristiani e musulmani sono figli di questo Oriente, e sono legati da un’unica civiltà, dalla stessa cultura e dalla stessa lingua, e perfino dalla stessa origine etnica e clanica. Essi appartengono alle stesse patrie per la cui fondazione hanno lottato. Per proteggere la sovranità e la libertà di queste patrie essi hanno combattuto insieme. I cambiamenti numerici non dovrebbero influire sulla sostanza di questa realtà.
Ma questa supposizione non sembra essere sempre vera. Ed è qui la fonte del pericolo di cui è indispensabile che le leadership ufficiali siano consapevoli, ed a cui è necessario che prestino attenzione.
In alcuni paesi d’Oriente si assiste a un’ascesa di movimenti fanatici ed estremisti. Alcune leadership politiche cercano di convivere con questi movimenti. Ma i fatti dimostrano che la negligenza non fa altro che incoraggiare l’estremismo. I fatti dimostrano anche che, con il passare del tempo, il “prezzo da pagare” è sempre più alto, così come la sofferenza dei cristiani è sempre più grande, fino a portarli alla rabbia ed alla disperazione, che si esprime in uno o in entrambi dei seguenti esiti negativi: l’emigrazione, e l’isolamento.
Altre leadership politiche si oppongono ai movimenti estremisti in maniera radicale, e li combattono al punto da isolarli ed emarginarli. Allo stesso tempo esse si aprono alle forze nazionali cristiane e collaborano con queste ultime. Ma anche in questo caso i fatti hanno dimostrato che tale preferenza accordata ai cristiani ha portato ad aggravare il solco esistente fra i movimenti estremisti ed i cittadini cristiani. Tale preferenza ha infatti dipinto i cittadini cristiani come alleati del potere ostile a questi movimenti. Questa ostilità ha dunque acquisito una dimensione religiosa, e non solo politica.
Quando, poi, le leadership politiche appianano le loro divergenze con i movimenti estremisti (come accadde in Egitto nell’era di Sadat, ad esempio), i leader cristiani nazionali si trovano al di fuori dell’ombrello del potere, e più esposti alla reazione dell’estremismo.
Inoltre, siccome le leadership politiche spesso sono alleate o collaborano con l’Occidente (gli Stati Uniti ed i paesi europei), la convinzione erronea che l’Occidente coincida con il Cristianesimo fa apparire la collaborazione dei cristiani d’Oriente con le leadership politiche nazionali come una sottomissione agli orientamenti dell’Occidente e un’adesione alle sue politiche, cosa che a sua volta rafforza la convinzione che i cristiani d’Oriente e l’Occidente siano una cosa sola.
Alla luce di questa descrizione della realtà, è importante affermare la necessità urgente di quanto segue:
1) Spezzare il legame tra il naturale ruolo nazionale dei cristiani d’Oriente ed il conflitto per il potere che infuria tra le leadership ufficiali ed i movimenti religiosi estremisti.
2) Radicare e divulgare alcuni principi fondamentali nella cultura generale, chiarendo che né l’Occidente rappresenta il Cristianesimo, né i cristiani d’Oriente rappresentano un’estensione dell’Occidente.
3) Ribadire che né l’emigrazione cristiana dall’Oriente né l’auto-isolamento dei cristiani risolvono i problemi di cui essi soffrono in Oriente, ma anzi li aggravano.
4) Sensibilizzare l’opinione pubblica nelle società musulmane – compresi i movimenti estremisti – sul fatto che l’emigrazione cristiana dall’Oriente non rappresenta soltanto una perdita per i cristiani, o per le società orientali, ma offre in sostanza una testimonianza distorta e negativa dell’Islam e del modello di convivenza islamo-cristiano. A pagare il prezzo di ciò sono i musulmani sparsi in tutto il mondo.
5) Diffondere una cultura unitaria della cittadinanza, fondata sull’uguaglianza dei cittadini nei propri diritti e nei propri doveri, in modo tale che questi diritti non siano legati a una data religione o a una data appartenenza confessionale. La responsabilità generale e la base delle leadership ufficiali devono fondarsi sul principio seguente: che la sofferenza dei cristiani d’Oriente è la sofferenza dei musulmani d’Oriente, e la responsabilità di far fronte a questa sofferenza è una responsabilità islamica così come cristiana.
Poiché se l’Oriente perde la sua molteplicità religiosa, confessionale e razziale, perde le specificità che sono la fonte della sua bellezza e del suo fascino, e la sua immagine si trasforma da quella di un tappeto dai colori luminosi, dall’ordito squisito, e dall’armonia delle forme, in un semplice pezzo di moquette indistinta.
I cristiani d’Oriente possono vivere all’interno di società non orientali. I musulmani d’Oriente possono vivere separati dai cristiani. Tuttavia l’Oriente non sarà più l’Oriente. In questo modo esso perderà la propria identità, il proprio ruolo ed il proprio messaggio.
Per 1500 anni l’Oriente ha conservato la propria identità, è andato fiero del proprio ruolo, e si è vantato del proprio messaggio, malgrado tutte le avversità e i flagelli che si sono abbattuti su di esso. Oggi l’Oriente è chiamato ancora una volta a ribadire se stesso e la propria originalità. Tutte le esperienze che esso ha vissuto hanno affermato che l’Oriente è tale grazie ai suoi musulmani ed ai suoi cristiani. Altrimenti è un’altra cosa. Una qualunque altra cosa.

Mohammad Sammak è segretario generale del Comitato islamo-cristiano per il Dialogo in Libano; presiede il segretariato permanente del Vertice spirituale islamico in Libano, ed è direttore della rivista “al-Ijtihad”
By Radiovaticana su You Tube

Papa: uomini e donne del Medio Oriente, non siete mai soli

Pope, People of the Middle East, you are not alone

23 ottobre 2010

By Radiovaticana

الجمعية الخاصة من أجل الشرق الأوسط لسينودس الأساقفة ـ رسالة إلى شعب الله
الرسالة هنا
3.3

ذكرنا في اجتماعاتنا وصلواتنا آلام العراق ودماءه العزيزة التي ما زالت تُخضِّب كلَّ مكان فيه. وذكرنا المسيحيّين الذين قتلوا في العراق٬ ومعاناة كنيسة العراق المستمرة، وأبناءها المهجّرين في أنحاء العالم يحملون هموم أرضهم ووطنهم. وقد أعرب آباء السينودس عن تضامنهم مع شعب العراق وكنائسه وتمنَّوا أن يَلقَى المهجَّرون حيثما وُجِدوا المساعدة الضرورية ليتمكّنوا من العودة إلى بلادهم والعيش فيها بأمان.

11

ويستطيع العراق وضع حد لنتائج الحرب الدامية وإقرار الأمن الذي يحمي جميع مواطنيه بكافة مكوناته الاجتماعية والدينية والقومية.

Rebuilding Babel and the future of Iraq, a Synod story

By Radiovaticana, October 23, 2010

“I have great hope for the future of the Church in Iraq
- and it comes from a group of young men – those men who studied together for the priesthood in Babel College for six years, they have built the bonds of brotherhood and commitment to the faith, they together with the ordinary people are the foundation for the future of the Church in my country”.
The voice of the recently appointed Bishop to the Chaldean Church in Erbil, Bassar Warda, is one that goes against the tide of pessimism that has enveloped many in the martyred Church of that nation.
“One of the fruits that I will bring back to my people from the Synod – he continues – is that together we must look to the future”.
Bishop Warda is far from unrealistic. He acknowledges that “no one was prepared for the degree of upheaval in the life of the Church in our country in the wake of 2003”.
He also flatly states that yes many of the churches, seminaries, schools and parish halls of Baghdad and Mosul lie abandoned or are closed while the communities they once housed seek resettlement in his diocese.
“Even the churches that Fr Ragheed Ghanni [shot dead by assailants in 2007] and Archbishop Rahho [kidnapped and murdered in 2008] served are empty, while I am trying to find ways to build new churches in my diocese to meet the needs of the faithful”.
No-one can escape from the fact that the face of Christianity in Iraq has radically changed, however, Bishop Warda believes in resurrection and new beginnings, as he tells Tracey McClure.

To listen Real Audio or MP3 go to the article by clicking here

FINAL LIST OF PROPOSITIONS FROM SYNOD FATHERS
provisional and unofficial English version: click here

MIDDLE EAST SYNOD: MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE OF GOD
Click here for the full text

3.3 We have reflected in our meetings and in our prayers the keen sufferings of the Iraqi people. We have recalled the Christians assassinated in Iraq, the continued suffering of the Church in Iraq and her sons who have been displaced and dispersed throughout the world, bringing with them the concerns for their land and their fatherland. The synod fathers have expressed their solidarity with the people and the Churches in Iraq and have expressed their desire that the emigrants, forced to leave their country, might find in the welcoming countries the necessary support to be able to return to their homeland and live in security.

11 Iraq will be able to put an end to the consequences of its deadly war and re-establish a secure way of life which will protect all its citizens with all their social structures, both religious and national.

Faith held hostage by violence

By Al Jazeera

The kidnapping and killing of one of Iraq's most prominent Christians exposed al-Qaeda's brutal fundraising methods.
by Andrew Wander, 22 Oct 2010


3 ACR reported that Bishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of the Chaldean Church of Mosul and 3 bodyguards were found murdered in a sedan in the Al Ikha neighborhood.
UPDATE: 292007FEB08 IP's from ERB4 reported 3x LN KIA at that location, none of them are the bishop. ERB4 IP believe the bishop was kidnapped. The bodies were taken to Al Jamouri Hospital.
UPDATE: 131750MAR08 1 West reports that the body of Bishop Paulos Faraj Raho was found at grid 38SLF in the Al Intisar neighborhood.

The murder of Paulos Faraj Rahho, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, marked a nadir in interfaith relations in Iraq. He was kidnapped by al-Qaeda in Iraq operatives in February 2008 in what appears to have been a desperate attempt by the group to raise money.
His story demonstrates how al-Qaeda in Iraq operated with little regard for the people of Iraq as they waged war against the US presence in the country, using them as little more than cannon-fodder and cash-cows.
Bishop Rahho had lived almost his entire life in Mosul, which has a long established community of Chaldean Catholics. In 2001 he became the Archbishop of Mosul, becoming the leader of about 20,000 Catholics in 10 parishes.
When Iraqi Christians found themselves at the wrong end of a growing campaign of violence as the war progressed, Rahho stayed with his flock, continuing to preach a message of forgiveness and religious tolerance in the face of the attacks.
As one of the most prominent Christians in northern Iraq, it was a matter of time before Rahho found himself attracting the attention of al-Qaeda. After he had finished giving a mass on February 29, 2008, the archbishop's car was attacked with gunfire and he was bundled into the boot of a waiting vehicle.
His kidnappers demanded the release of foreign fighters captured in Iraq and that they be paid $ 3m for his release. The kidnappers also demanded that Iraqi Christians form a militia to fight US forces in the country.
But the money was never paid. Church officials said that Rahho had managed to call them on his cell-phone while in the boot of the car and had instructed them not to pay any ransom for his release.
“He believed that this money would not be paid for good works and would be used for killing and more evil actions,” the church officials said. A month later Rahho's body was found in a shallow grave after a note describing its whereabouts was passed to church members.
His death provoked international condemnation. Pope Benedict XVI described it as "an act of inhuman violence". George Bush, the then US president, said the archbishop’s killing was "savage and cruel", while Nouri al Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, condemned it as "the work of a criminal gang intent on provoking religious strife."
In his will, Rahho called on Christians to build bridges between the different faiths of Iraq. One of his killers, an al-Qaeda cell leader call Ahmed Ali Ahmed, was captured and sentenced to death soon after his death. Rahho's church opposed the use of capital punishment against the killer.

ASIA/IRAQ - Emergenza educativa: un campo della missione

By Fides, 23 ottobre 2010

La missione della Chiesa in Iraq è sempre più attenta all’emergenza educativa e alla necessità dell’accesso all’istruzione per le fasce più povere e svantaggiate della popolazione. Alla vigilia della Giornata Missionaria Mondiale, l’Agenzia Fides si sofferma sulla situazione dell’Iraq, dove la Chiesa, con il suo impegno, contribuisce al bene e alla crescita della società.
Il nuovo Iraq rischia l’analfabetismo di massa: un iracheno su cinque, nella fascia di età compresa fra 10 e 49 anni, non sa né leggere né scrivere: lo afferma un recente studio della “Inter Agency Information and Analysis Unit” (IAU) delle Nazioni Unite. Fra le donne la percentuale di analfabeti è oltre il doppio di quella degli uomini (24% contro l’11%). Notevole la disparità anche fra le zone urbane (14%) e quelle rurali (25%).
L’Unità delle Nazioni Unite, che ha preparato lo studio nel settembre scorso, sottolinea che i tassi di alfabetizzazione hanno un impatto determinante su tutti gli aspetti della vita: occupazione, salute, partecipazione alla vita pubblica, e attitudini sociali. Chi è analfabeta è svantaggiato: le famiglie il cui capofamiglia non sa leggere né scrivere hanno più probabilità di vivere in condizioni di privazione (senz’acqua, fognature, cibo a sufficienza, elettricità, e servizi).
Fra i giovani, in particolare, dice lo studio, quelli che non sanno leggere e scrivere hanno molta più difficoltà a far sentire la propria voce nelle istituzioni politiche e sociali. Lo studio nota l’assenza di una strategia nazionale globale, i fondi insufficienti per programmi di alfabetizzazione, nonché una struttura amministrativa inefficiente a livello centrale, provinciale, e della comunità per lottare contro il fenomeno.
Si sottolineata la mancanza di coordinamento fra il governo, la società civile, le organizzazioni non governative, e il settore privato: per questo la Chiesa cattolica irachena continua a impegnarsi nel settore dell’istruzione: l’Arcivescovo caldeo di Mosul, ad esempio, ha annunciato che a gennaio 2011 inizierà la costruzione di una nuova scuola come segno di speranza per la gente.
S. Ecc. Mons. Emil Shimoun Nona, 42 anni, nominato a gennaio 2010, ha dichiarato in una lettera che la diocesi si impegnerà a costruire una nuova scuola, nell’antico villaggio cattolico caldeo di Karmless. Il villaggio, ha spiegato, è pieno di sfollati interni cattolici che vi si sono rifugiati. La nuova scuola diocesana, con il nome del patrono “Mar Adday”, “si propone di accogliere studenti di tutte le religioni: cristiani, musulmani e yazidi, di Karmless e dintorni”, nell’autunno 2011.
Il presule ha espresso la speranza che questo progetto aiuti le persone creando più posti di lavoro, ma dando anche ai cattolici “un’opportunità di fare qualcosa in cui spicchiamo”. “L’istruzione – ha ricordato – è stata un carisma della nostra Chiesa fin dalla sua fondazione. Nel 350 d.C., nella città di Nisibis, i nostri antenati diretti fondarono la prima università del mondo. Da allora abbiamo creato centinaia di scuole e università, e sono state riconosciute per i loro apporti significativi alla cultura e alla società irachene”.
By Radiovaticana


SINODO PER IL MEDIO ORIENTE: ELENCO FINALE DELLE PROPOSIZIONI
Versione provvisoria, ufficiosa e non ufficiale in italiano: clicca qui


MESSAGGIO AL POPOLO DI DIO A CONCLUSIONE DEL SINODO DEI VESCOVI PER IL MEDIO ORIENTE
Versione in italiano del testo integrale: clicca qui

3.3
Nelle nostre riunioni e nelle nostre preghiere abbiamo riflettuto sulle sofferenze cruente del popolo iracheno. Abbiamo fatto memoria dei cristiani assassinati in Iraq, delle sofferenze permanenti della Chiesa in Iraq, dei suoi figli espulsi e dispersi per il mondo, portando noi insieme con loro le preoccupazioni della loro terra e della loro patria.
I padri sinodali hanno espresso la loro solidarietà con il popolo e che Chiese in Iraq e hanno espresso il voto che gli emigrati, forzati a lasciare i loro paesi, possano trovare i soccorsi necessari là dove arrivano, affinché possano tornare nei loro paesi e vivervi in sicurezza.
11 L’Iraq potrà mettere fine alle conseguenze della guerra assassina e ristabilire la sicurezza che proteggerà tutti i suoi cittadini con tutte le loro componenti sociali, religiose e nazionali.

22 ottobre 2010

A Sovizzo (VI) incontro sugli iracheni cristiani. Don Francesco Strazzari e Mons. Louis Sako, Arcivescovo caldeo di Kirkuk

By Baghdadhope*

Mercoledì 27 ottobre alle 20.30 nella chiesa parrocchiale di Sovizzo Colle (VI) verrà presentato il libro di Don Francesco Strazzari

Dalla terra tra i due fiumi: Iraq -Iran
Cristiani tra l'integralismo e la guerra

All'incontro parteciperà Monsignor Louis Sako,
Arcivescovo caldeo di Kirkuk, che porterà la testimonianza della comunità irachena cristiana e che racconterà del Sinodo per il Medio Oriente che terminerà a Roma domani, 24 ottobre.

Il libro-reportage di Don Francesco Strazzari, parroco dell'Unità Pastorale di Sovizzo ed inviato del quindicinale Il Regno, è il resoconto dei suoi viaggi e dei suoi incontri con diversi esponenti della chiesa irachena nel 1998 e nel 2001, prima quindi dell'ultima guerra, e di quello compiuto nel 2009 nel Kurdistan iracheno.

Per vedere il volantino dell'incontro clicca qui

Iraq: Torino, l'arcivescovo di Baghdad al Sermig per parlare di fede

By La Repubblica Torino.it

Torino, 22 ott. - (Adnkronos) - La realta' irachena, la liberta' religiosa, il rispetto delle minoranze, i diritti come unica via della pace. Saranno i temi al centro dell'incontro 'La fede ha i suoi diritti', a cui partecipera' l'arcivescovo latino di Baghdad, mons. Jean Benjamin Sleiman che inaugurera' cosi', il prossimo 26 ottobre, il nuovo ciclo di incontri dell'Universita' del Dialogo del Sermig, intitolato 'Ogni porta ha la sua chiave'.
L'Universita' del Dialogo e' uno spazio di formazione permanente per guardare in faccia le sfide del nostro tempo e cercare di percorrere strade di speranza. Inaugurata il 12 settembre del 2004 dal cardinale Renato Raffaele Martino, negli ultimi anni ha accolto testimoni di ogni orientamento, della cultura e dei media, dell'economia e della politica, della solidarieta' e dell'arte.




A Borgosesia, sabato sera, la Veglia missionaria con la testimonianza di mons. Shlemon Warduni

By Il Monte Rosa online, settimanale cattolico della Valsesia, in Stampa Diocesana Novarese

Sarà la testimonianza di mons. Shlemon Warduni, vescovo ausiliare del Patriarcato caldeo di Baghdad, in Iraq, il momento centrale della Veglia missionaria di preghiera che si svolgerà questo sabato sera 23 ottobre a Borgosesia, con inizio alle 20. Mons. Warduni interviene in diocesi mentre a Roma si celebra il Sinodo delle Chiese del Medio Oriente, dove vivono, tra molte difficoltà, quasi 15 milioni di cattolici tra 330 milioni di abitanti, quasi tutti di lingua araba e fede islamica: comunità cattoliche che sono il prolungamento di quelle antiche comunità che si ricollegano ai tempi apostolici.
La Veglia missionaria, presieduta da mons. Renato Corti, vedrà anche la consegna del Crocifisso ai missionari in partenza a gennaio: padre Matteo Borroni per Caetitè in Brasile e la volontaria laica omegnese Michela Nolli per la Costa d’Avorio.

L'incontro con Mons. Warduni si svolgerà presso la Chiesa Collegiata dei Ss. Pietro e Paolo in
Via Caroli.
Da La Nuova Regaldi, Associazione Culturale Diocesana
Visualizza mappa da La Nuova Regaldi cliccando qui

Les chrétiens du Moyen-Orient en « océan musulman »

By La Croix, 21/10/2010

by Bruno Bouvet

La coexistence des communautés chrétiennes et musulmanes, dans un climat marqué par la montée du fondamentalisme islamiste, a été au centre des échanges du Synode sur le Moyen-Orient


«Nous vivons dans un océan musulman » : ces jours-ci, dans les couloirs du Synode des évêques pour le Moyen-Orient, la métaphore géographique et maritime est de mise lorsque les évêques évoquent leurs relations avec l’islam. Océan plus ou moins tourmenté par les tensions politiques, voire les conflits armés, comme en Irak depuis 2003, où la cohésion est gravement mise à mal par les attentats dont sont victimes les chrétiens, entre autres.
Archevêque latin de Bagdad, Mgr Jean Benjamin Sleiman prolonge la métaphore. En Irak, la présence chrétienne forme des « îlots », dit-il avec le double souci d’éviter la dramatisation autant que l’angélisme. « Oui, il existe de nobles expériences de fraternité avec les musulmans, car beaucoup d’entre eux sont habités par un esprit de paix. Mais le problème, c’est que l’islam est la culture dominante. »
Voilà qui définit les contours – et les limites – du dialogue islamo-chrétien, lequel est souvent strictement inscrit dans le cadre des statuts réservés aux minorités.

«L’islam ne veut rien dire : il n’y a que des musulmans»

Mais de quel dialogue parle-t-on en réalité ? Mgr Sleiman se réfère à l’encyclique Ecclesiam suam de Paul VI, soulignant que « dialoguer, c’est aimer ». Il invite les uns et les autres « à ne pas pratiquer le double langage qui consiste à proclamer que nous sommes tous frères alors que nous considérons les musulmans comme des ennemis ». Et réciproquement, sans doute.
Dans cet esprit, bien des évêques en terre musulmane tiennent à rappeler que le dialogue théologique est impossible. Ils soulignent que la véritable rencontre entre les deux religions ne peut se faire qu’à hauteur d’hommes, en dépit des tensions dues au climat politique local. La distinction entre l’islam politique et l’islam « de la vie » est capitale à leurs yeux.
« L’islam, pour moi, cela ne veut rien dire. Il n’y a que des musulmans », insiste Mgr Vincent Landel, évêque français de Rabat, au Maroc, à l’unisson de beaucoup de ses confrères. Là encore, l’évêque circonscrit la rencontre éventuelle entre musulmans et chrétiens dans l’espace légal de la société marocaine, qui tolère les autres religions et leur laisse la liberté de culte.

«L’homme est l’ennemi de ce qu’il ignore»

« Les chrétiens, au Maroc, sont considérés comme des étrangers. Pas comme des citoyens, contrairement à ce qui se passe dans la grande majorité des pays du Moyen-Orient. Chez nous, un concept comme la laïcité positive est une vue de l’esprit », prévient-il. « Attention à ne pas appliquer nos idées occidentales à la civilisation arabe », affirme-t-il, en référence aux expulsions récentes d’évangéliques, accusés de prosélytisme.
Pour Mgr Landel, chrétiens et musulmans peuvent néanmoins travailler ensemble au développement de la société marocaine. Il juge d’ailleurs que la simple présence chrétienne est un témoignage indispensable d’ouverture à l’endroit d’un modèle musulman qui se voudrait parfois unique.
Mgr Samir Nassar, archevêque de Damas des maronites (Syrie), parle à ce sujet d’un enrichissement mutuel, citant l’exemple de « nombreuses initiatives pacifiques » qui ont germé dernièrement, notamment à l’occasion de l’Année Saint-Paul. Tournois sportifs, concerts et pièces de théâtre joués en commun ont confirmé, selon lui, que « l’homme est l’ennemi de ce qu’il ignore ».

«La majorité des musulmans est tolérante»

Mais, alors, d’où proviennent les tensions ? Mgr Nassar tourne son regard vers l’Occident, auquel il est souvent reproché de véhiculer une vision faussée de la religion. « Il faut éviter de provoquer l’islam par des gestes nuisibles comme les caricatures danoises ou l’appel à brûler le Coran », insiste-t-il.
Ces facteurs externes sont aussi invoqués par Mgr Youhanna Golta, évêque auxiliaire copte-catholique d’Alexandrie (Égypte), pour expliquer les difficultés qui peuvent surgir entre les communautés dans un pays dont il rappelle la longue tradition pacifique.
« Le climat ne se détériore qu’en cas de crise économique. On va chercher de l’argent chez les plus faibles, on détruit les églises », explique-il en faisant allusion aux attaques dont est victime la communauté copte en Égypte. À ce propos, Mgr Golta estime que « le terrorisme veut vider l’Orient de la présence des chrétiens, mais la majorité des musulmans est tolérante et se montre opposée à cet exode ».

«Pourquoi n’arriverions-nous pas à vivre ensemble ?»

Assez logiquement, le maintien de la présence chrétienne en Orient a de ce fait dominé tous les échanges des pères synodaux. « Ils ne parlent que de cela », a résumé au cours d'une conférence de presse le cardinal André Vingt-Trois, archevêque de Paris, qui assiste à l’ensemble du Synode.
Dans le regard de Mgr Emil Nona, archevêque de Mossoul des chaldéens (Irak), on lit que cette question n’a rien de théorique. Malgré la dégradation des relations, nées du surgissement du fondamentalisme islamiste, il veut croire encore à l’avenir des chrétiens dans son pays.
« La situation actuelle et le souvenir de nos morts me causent une grande douleur. Nous ne savons pas ce qui va arriver en raison d’une grande instabilité politique. Mais pourquoi n’arriverions-nous pas à vivre ensemble ? », s’interroge-t-il, avant d’espérer que le Synode livrera samedi, dans ses conclusions, «une parole forte sur la situation des chrétiens en Orient ».

Living without an anchor: refugees and the internally displaced

By UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund


In Amman, Mazin Mohammed Riadh, who fled to Jordan from Iraq in 2007 in the midst of sectarian violence, remembers how he could not break the nervous habit of looking in the rearview mirror of his car to see if someone was following him. In the Jordanian city of Zarqa, 18-year-old Shahad cries every night because her father has been refused resettlement in the United States and she thinks she has no future as a refugee.
Across town, Kadeja Jaber tells how she uses her ingenuity to keep her small home in exile happy since her family was forced to leave the Iraqi city of Najaf after her brother was killed.
More than 40 million people around the world—a number roughly equal to the population of Kenya or Spain or Poland—are uprooted from their homes and internally displaced within their own countries or living as refugees in another country.
Each one of them, many of whom will never go home, are often “disoriented, traumatized, confused, fearful, disempowered, dependent, helpless,” said John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, when the United Nations launched a new report in May 2010 showing that internally displaced people outnumber refugees.
Over the last decade or two, the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has out of necessity blurred a once-clear line between the internally displaced and refugees who flee from country to country. Both populations have similar needs and similar fears when conflict forces them into flight.

Iraq is a case in point.

According to the UNHCR and government estimates, in mid-2010, there were 4.8 million Iraqis “of concern,” a description that means they felt that they could no longer live safely at home. Of these, more than 2.6 million were displaced within Iraq and 1.9 million had crossed borders into another country. Conversations with Iraqi families who have sought refuge in Jordan reveal that many of them have experienced both: first moving from place to place in Iraq in search of safety and then finally, and in desperation, fleeing the country entirely, sometimes with death threats hanging over them. After national elections in Iraq in 2010, a new fear has complicated the lives of Iraqi refugees who say they are concerned that with the Iraqi political climate declared to be “normal” and sectarian violence reduced (though not ended) they will be sent back by host countries in Europe and some parts of the Middle East.
Iraq, with about 29 million people, is a youthful country. The median age of its people is just over 20, with more than a third of the population falling into the 0-14 age group, and about a fifth in the 15-24 age group. So among the frightened people are solemn, wide-eyed children who barely grasp what has become of their lives. Their parents, fathers and mothers suffer anguish.

Mazin Mohammed Riadh, who says it took him six months to overcome the fear of being followed, is a 37-year-old engineer from Baghdad. He recalls how his wife and children lived in terror when the family arrived in Jordan from Iraq in the summer of 2007.
Several relatives of his wife, Hirraa Abass Fadhil, who is 26, had been killed by members of a Shiite militia because of their Sunni names; one uncle targeted for death was an imam. “My son was frightened when he saw a policeman because of his experience back home, because of the sectarian nature of the police,” Riadh said. He takes the little boy into the street to shake hands and talk with Jordanian police officers to learn that they will not harm him. Riadh said that he and his wife had problems of their own to overcome before they were able to focus on their children. “We needed to settle down mentally. We needed to feel secure first. When we came to terms with things around here, then I started to teach my children to live normally.”
The couple’s two young sons, Abdullah, born in 2003, and Abdurrahman, born two years later, are now adjusting reasonably well, their parents said. The problem is Adam, the 15-year-old brother of Hirraa, one of her three siblings living with them in Jordan. Their mother died in 2000 giving birth to the youngest of the three, a sister named Nawal. Their father died a year later of heart disease. Another sister, Havaa, is 19, unsettled and unsure about her future because university education in Jordan, much of it private, is beyond the family’s financial means. Riadh said that he had promised his wife that he would always look after her sisters and brother and keep them all together as a family. That pledge has led to an unexpected setback in their lives as refugees, said Riadh, a softspoken man obviously shaken and distressed by dissension in the family over their next move.
Riadh, who has engineering skills, had been offered resettlement in the United States. Adam refused to go, and his family won’t leave without him. The situation they face—their future in the hands of a disturbed 15 year old—illustrates well, but sadly, the complications of refugee life that go on even after a return to some sense of security. Adam has never recovered from the killing of his brother, Omar, gunned down at the age of 18 in Baghdad when he entered a Shia neighborhood where someone recognized him as a resident of a Sunni section of the city known to harbor Al Qaeda terrorists.
In Iraq by 2007, Hirraa said, “Corpses filled the street, both Shia and Sunni.”
In Amman, the Jordanian capital, the UNHCR office had prepared for a flood of Iraqi refugees in 2003, after the American-led invasion of Iraq. But they did not come then. It was not until 2006 and after, when sectarian killings began to explode, that many Iraqis were finally forced to flee. That was the setting from which Riadh escaped.
“For Adam, things are terrible,” Riadh said, through an interpreter. “Omar was his idol, his friend, his brother. After he died, Adam used to dream about him every night. He would go out in the streets hoping to find him alive to bring him back. Omar’s death has affected the whole family, but it has affected Adam most. He was in a horrible mental state when we arrived in Jordan. He didn’t want to see anybody. He did not want to go to school. We took him for counselling. He went once or twice and then he said, ‘Am I crazy that you are taking me there?’ He did not want anybody to see him there. We are forcing him to go to school. The first year he came here he got into a fight; it was a fight between two schoolboys because he was an Iraqi.”
When the chance to move to the United States was offered, Adam was adamant that he would not go. He had heard a rumor that he would be drafted into the American army, but that was only one excuse, and the fact that there is no conscription in the United States made no difference. “He is threatening that if we try to force him to go he will leave here and go back to Baghdad, even if that means getting killed,” said Riadh. That is why, in mid-2010, the family’s future was put on hold. Riadh was determined to keep trying.
The Riadh family’s experience in Amman has been eased by the generosity of Jordanian and international non-governmental organizations and moves to open government social services, including basic education and some subsidized health care, to them. Reproductive health services, often free, are widely available for Iraqis in Jordan. In the Riadh family, Hirraa, who has been looking after her own two children and her sisters and brother during stressful times, gets regular attention from the Jordan Health Aid Society, a five-year-old non-profit, non-governmental organization that has begun to expand regionally with mobile clinics. In Amman, the medical teams make house calls, so that women do not have to go out alone in a still-strange city. The care Hirraa gets includes regular diagnostic tests and screenings.
Until he refused further treatment Adam was counselled by the Institute for Family Health of the Noor Al Hussein Foundation in Amman, which was originally established as a mother-child health centre in 1986 under the patronage of Queen Noor, the widow of King Hussein, who died in 1999. In 2002, with European Union financing and advice from UNFPA, the institute expanded into a comprehensive psychosocial counselling centre. Now 30 per cent of the institute’s clients are men, including many seeking counselling, said Manal Tahtamouni, an obstetrician-gynecologist who is the institute’s director. The institute also offers rehabilitation services and assistance for victims of torture or gender-based violence. The Iraqi clientele grew after refugees began arriving.
“At the moment we have a steering committee of Iraqi men,” Tahtamouni said. “They have taken overall management of one of our projects.” She said that Iraqis, many of whom are professionals or generally middle class, come with high expectations for themselves but little sense of community. “Individuals or families, they are mainly isolated not only from the host community but from other Iraqi families as well. We try to involve Iraqis and Jordanians in the same activities, so that they can socialize and help with integration.”
Zeina Jadaan, Assistant Protection Officer for the UNHCR in Jordan, says that bullying of Iraqi children in school has raised awareness among Jordanians as well as Iraqi refugees about the broad interpretation of gender-based violence and attacks based on nationality. Both physical and psychological abuse are too often silently accepted by society and victims themselves. “They do not always know that what they are doing is abuse,” she said. “Women often think that being beaten is normal.” Jadaan said that child abuse is frequently related to sexual and gender-based violence among refugees living out of their home environments and under multiple challenges. Her analysis is echoed widely—in such places as different as Bosnia and Herzegovina and Liberia, where directors of counselling centres say that domestic violence and child abuse are often linked to conflict or other societal disruptions.
Cases of both gender-based violence and child abuse brought to the attention of UNHCR are first analysed and investigated through interviews conducted in a sympathetic manner: How can we help? As in virtually any part of the world, abusers among the refugees are often family members or other people known by the victim. Some cases are eventually referred by UNHCR to the Jordanian Government’s Family Protection Department, which Jadaan described as “very efficient and helpful.”
The Department is “a one-stop shop,” she said. Its services include psychosocial counselling, legal counselling, reconciliation counselling for individuals or families and health and forensic work. “And what is even more important,” Jadaan said, “is that they have the power, being a government agency, to tell the husband or whoever the perpetrator is that they have to abide by the laws, whether international conventions or national laws. They can refer cases to the courts if necessary.”
Despite the help Iraqis can find in Jordan to get them through a traumatic period, the reality remains that for a family like Riadh’s, resettlement in a third country is often the best hope of building a better life as long as conditions remain dangerous in Iraq. Jordan has not signed the 1951 refugee convention, and Iraqis are treated as temporary “guests,” not able to work legally in the country, though some have found jobs in the informal sector or under sponsorship programmes. “Without legal status or access to livelihoods, and facing a precarious economic situation,” UNHCR says, “an increasing number of Iraqis are finding themselves in dire circumstances.”
By some estimates, there may be as many as half a million Iraqi refugees in Jordan. But only about 30,000 have registered with UNHCR. About 12,000 of them are given financial support, according to family size and needs, ranging from just under $100 [70 Jordanian dinars] a month to as much as $400 [290 dinars] for larger families with special vulnerabilities. Most use the cash assistance for rent, food and medicine.
Arafat Jamal, deputy representative in Jordan of the UNHCR, said that the Iraqi refugee population in Jordan is not in sprawling camps as outsiders might picture; Jordan was opposed to such settlements. There are no fields of tents flying the UNHCR flag. Rather the Iraqis, many of them middle class and from urban areas, moved directly into cities or large towns in Jordan and had to find places to rent. The financial assistance they receive is dispensed through ATM machines (a system now also in use among Iraqi refugees in Damascus). Meanwhile, more and more well-educated and wealthier Iraqis are moving on to third countries, leaving behind a residual population that has fewer resources and is more dependent on support from international donors and aid agencies.


Christians are among the poorest Iraqi refugees. One of the international groups working with Iraqi Christians in Jordan is Messengers of Peace, a non-governmental organization based in Spain but with operations in 40 counties. Many Christians were targeted by extremists in some parts of Iraq. Father Khlail Jaar, who represents the organization in Amman, says many of these Christians who came to Amman say they do not receive the level of support services they had expected, he wrote in a 2008 report. His assistance programme, though it aids people of all faiths, has 75 per cent Iraqi Christian clients.


Some of the poorest Iraqis in Jordan have found homes in cities and towns away from Amman because costs of living in the capital are high. In a crumbling alleyway in the city of Zarqa, about 30 kilometres north of Amman on the road towards Damascus, Hassan Alibayadh lives on the edge of subsistence with his wife, Azhar Ghani, and two teenage children, a daughter, Shahad, 18, and a son, Ahmad, 17. Their front room is barely large enough for a small sofa, a few chairs and an old refrigerator; their clothing is on hangers in a stairwell. Alibayadh is a visibly troubled man who had just learned that his application for asylum in the United States had been rejected, even though he had been told earlier that he met the criteria for resettlement. He wonders: Was it because he is a Shia and thought to be safe in Iraq with its Shia-led government, even under a death threat? Was it because he had once served in the Iraqi army, though long years ago? Was it because he was brain-damaged by an explosion while in military service, or because he suffers from epilepsy? He doesn’t know, and he refuses to go back to UNHCR and ask for a review.
“I was so depressed by the refusal I couldn’t even watch television,” he said. “My world blacked out.” Now confined to his shabby home, the third they have lived in and fallen behind in paying rent on, he is accused by his son of ruining their life. His daughter, he says, cries every night. His wife is holding the family together. “My wife is very resourceful,” he said. “One month she pays the rent, the next she pays the shopkeeper. She keeps the ball rolling.” His current landlord was not threatening to evict them as others had done for late payment of rent, set at about $84 a month for a few small rooms.
In a more cheerful house in Zarqa, in a neighborhood where low-income Iraqis have formed a sense of community, 22-year-old Kadeja Jaber is also keeping her family afloat. A mother of a two-month-old baby and a boy of four, she has covered the dull gray walls of their small house with gift-wrapping paper to brighten the atmosphere. She received a grant from the Jordanian Red Crescent to buy mattresses and cloth to cover them to make a comfortable sofa. She took courses in embroidery, doll-making and sewing various items for sale such as tote bags and hanging cloths with pockets for storing household items. She enrolled in a four-day home-production course run by a non-governmental organization under Jordanian royal patronage and was given 100 Jordanian dinars (about $140) when the course ended as a challenge to “invest” it in something she could sell for profit. She bought ingredients and made sweet biscuits and other food for sale, and came out with money to spare.
The family, Shiites from the city of Najaf, where her brother was killed, has secured regular stipends from various sources that, along with income from occasional work her husband, an automobile refinisher, can find, give them a total income of about $400 a month. Jaber, who is illiterate, says that she is taking birth-control pills because they cannot afford to have more children.