[Pages S6964-S6965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4605. Mr. REID (for Mr. Levin (for himself and Mr. Lugar)) 
proposed an amendment to the resolution S. Res. 322, expressing the 
sense of the Senate on religious minorities in Iraq; as follows:

       Strike the preamble and insert the following:
       Whereas the territory of Iraq, the land of Mesopotamia, has 
     millennia of rich cultural and religious history;
       Whereas the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians thrived 
     within what are now the borders of Iraq;
       Whereas the biblical patriarch Abraham was born in Ur, King 
     Hammurabi ruled from Babylon, and Imam Ali, the founder of 
     Shiite Islam, died in Kufa;
       Whereas during the 35-year rule of the Baath Party and 
     Saddam Hussein, and despite the Provisional Constitution of 
     1968 that provided for individual religious freedom in Iraq, 
     the Government of Iraq severely limited freedom of religion, 
     especially for religious minorities, and sought to exploit 
     religious differences for political purposes, leading the 
     United States Government to designate Iraq as a ``country of 
     particular concern'' under the International Religious 
     Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-292) because of 
     systematic, ongoing, egregious violations of religious 
     freedom;
       Whereas members of religious minority communities of Iraq, 
     both those who have been forced to flee the homeland in which 
     their ancestors have lived for thousands of years and those 
     who remain in Iraq, are committed to maintaining their 
     presence in Iraq and keeping alive their communities' 
     cultures, heritage, and religions, but threats against them 
     jeopardize the future of Iraq as a diverse, pluralistic, and 
     free society;

[[Page S6965]]

       Whereas despite the reduction in violence in Iraq in recent 
     years, serious threats to religious freedom remain, including 
     religiously motivated violence directed at vulnerable 
     religious minorities, their leaders, and their holy sites, 
     including Chaldeans, Syriacs, Assyrians, Armenians and other 
     Christians, Sabean Mandeans, Yeazidis, Baha'is, Kaka'is, 
     Jews, and Shi'a Shabak;
       Whereas the March 2010 Report on Human Rights issued by the 
     Department of State identifies ``insurgent and extremist 
     violence, coupled with weak government performance in 
     upholding the rule of law'' resulting in ``widespread and 
     severe human rights abuses'' as among the significant and 
     continuing human rights problems in Iraq;
       Whereas although violence has impacted all aspects of 
     society in Iraq, there have been alarming levels of 
     religiously motivated violence in Iraq in recent years;
       Whereas the United States Commission on International 
     Religious Freedom continues to recommend that the Secretary 
     of State designate Iraq as a ``country of particular 
     concern'' under the International Religious Freedom Act of 
     1998, because of the systematic, ongoing, egregious 
     violations of religious freedom in Iraq;
       Whereas scores of holy sites in Iraq have been bombed since 
     2004;
       Whereas members of small religious minority communities in 
     Iraq do not have militia or tribal structures to defend them, 
     often receive inadequate official protection, and are 
     legally, politically, and economically marginalized;
       Whereas in the Nineveh and Kirkuk governorates, where 
     control is disputed between the Government of Iraq and the 
     Kurdistan regional government, religious minorities have been 
     targeted for abuse, violence, and discrimination;
       Whereas before 1951, non-Muslims comprised some 6 percent 
     of the population of Iraq, with Jews as the oldest and 
     largest of these communities, tracing back to the Babylonian 
     captivity of the sixth century BCE, but today the Jewish 
     community in Iraq numbers in the single digits and 
     essentially lives in hiding;
       Whereas religious minorities in Iraq, who made up about 3 
     percent of the population of Iraq in 2003, make up a 
     disproportionately high percentage of registered Iraqi 
     refugees;
       Whereas the number of Christians in Iraq was approximately 
     1,400,000 according to the 1987 Iraqi census but, according 
     to the 2009 Report on International Religious Freedom issued 
     by the Department of State, may now number only 500,000 to 
     600,000;
       Whereas the United States is gravely concerned about the 
     viability of the indigenous Christian communities of Iraq and 
     other religious minority communities, and the possible 
     disappearance of their ancient languages, culture, and 
     heritage;
       Whereas the Sabean Mandean community in Iraq reports that 
     almost 90 percent of its members have fled Iraq, leaving only 
     about 3,500 to 5,000 Mandeans in Iraq as of 2009;
       Whereas the Baha'i faith, estimated to have fewer than 
     2,000 adherents in Iraq, remains prohibited in Iraq under a 
     1970 law;
       Whereas although hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees 
     and internally displaced persons have returned to their areas 
     of origin, the numbers of religious minority returnees to 
     Iraq are disproportionately low; and
       Whereas members of religious minority communities of Iraq 
     in diaspora have organized to support their communities in 
     Iraq in ways that also benefit the whole of Iraq society by 
     encouraging the rule of law, enhanced security, employment, 
     education and health services: Now therefore be it

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