WCA welcomes new American act regarding Arameans in Syria and Iraq
- Post 12 December 2018
On 11 December 2018, U.S. President Trump signed a significant Act, recognizing that ISIS has committed genocide against the Arameans and Yezidis in Syria and Iraq, while also calling for the restoration of these affected indigenous peoples and their livelihoods.
On President Trump’s right: H.E. Archbishop Bashar Warda of the Chaldean Catholic Church from Erbil, Iraq (Photo: White House).
The new law enables the victims of this genocide to finally and directly receive humanitarian aid from the United States. The long-awaited “assistance for humanitarian, stabilization and recovery needs” to these groups has now the legal framework to be implemented. Additionally, the Act will hold terrorist organizations such as ISIS accountable for genocide against ethno-religious minorities such as the Arameans (including Chaldeans, Syriacs and Assyrians) and Yezidis in Iraq and Syria.
“This Act is long due, but we welcome it. For far too long, the victims have been ignored and neglected by the international community,” commented WCA President, Johny Messo. “We hope that this document will be implemented without delay and inspire other governments and the UN to follow suit in helping Arameans, Yezidis and other vulnerable groups to rebuild their lives in their ancestral homeland.”
According to the Department of State’s annual reports on international religious freedom, the number of largely Aramean Christians living in Iraq has dropped from an estimated 1,400,000 in 2002 to fewer than 250,000 in 2017. These reports further suggest that the essentially Aramean Christians living in Syria, which constituted between 8 and 10 percent of Syria’s total population in 2010, are now “considerably” smaller as a result of the civil war that began in 2011.
The bill was first presented in 2017 by House Representative Christopher Smith (New Jersey), whom the WCA President had met with in December 2017 (photo). Until it was signed by President Trump, Congressman Smith had tried to introduce this document on multiple occasions during Obama’s administration. The state of New Jersey has a strong Aramean community, is the place of foundation of WCA in 1983 and is home to WCA’s member, the Aramaic American Association.
Click here to download this press release (pdf).
Co-Chairman, Helsinki Commission, Congressman Christopher Smith (R-NJ) with WCA President Johny Messo at
the 3rd Archon International Conference on Religious Freedom, Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., 5 Dec 2017
Source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/390/text
UPDATE: On 12 October 2019, President Trump (video) promised to give 50 million U.S. dollars as emergency financial assistance to Syria's Christians and other minorities! In January 2021, WCA is unaware of Christians receiving any contribution from this pledged assistance and it remains unclear to us whether or not this funding was indeed directed to a governmental agency (if so, which one?).
