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Iraq: Minorities

My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, on stimulating this most interesting and much needed debate. It is with great sadness and disappointment that I notice how daily reports of violence and bombings in Iraq are currently considered the norm. It is so easy for the media and politicians to bunch all that is happening in Iraq under one hat and miss what some have called the increasingly desperate situation of the indigenous Chaldo-Assyrian Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities. There have been significant and repeated attacks on ethnic minority groups in Iraq, both before and since the elections in January this year. I will not reiterate some of the horrors that your Lordships have mentioned tonight, but the continual reports of ethnic minorities such as the Chaldo-Assyrians suffering discrimination cannot be ignored. I understand from the FCO website that our embassy in Baghdad and our offices in Kirkuk and Basra have been instructed to monitor the situation, especially with regard to the criminal activity based on the widespread belief that Christians are wealthy. Can the Minister update the House with the most recent reports from our offices on that issue? I hope that the noble Baroness can also reiterate Her Majesty's Government's condemnation of attacks of any kind, particularly on Christian churches. A particular worry is the complaints over Assyrian Christian participation in the spring elections. The elections offered all Iraqis the opportunity to vote for the candidate who would best represent their interests. Groups of Assyrian Christians were registered to take part by the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, but there have been numerous complaints of irregularities in the voting procedures from that minority in particular. Dr Malko, president of the Assyrian National Assembly, has claimed that up to 400,000 Assyrians and other ethnic minorities, such as the Yezidis, Shabak and Turkomen were prevented from voting, as ballot boxes did not reach them, and that the Kurdish militia stopped them going to vote. The Jubilee campaign reports that ballot boxes stored in Arbil, the stronghold of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, were blocked from being delivered from at least six major Chaldo-Assyrian towns and villages in the Nineveh plains. That left thousands of would-be voters stranded outside polling places with no opportunity to cast their vote. Some 85 to 90 per cent of the Iraqi expatriate community are Assyrians. The Assyrian international news agency highlighted the fact that 170,000 Assyrians in the United States were left with no polling station. The International Organisation for Migration refused to add further polling stations despite there being more available in other countries such as Australia and Iran. We welcome an imperfect system rather than none at all, especially when out-of-country voting was agreed only a short time before the election, but there are lessons that need to be learnt to ensure that there are free and fair procedures for this year's constitutional referendum on 15 October and the elections for a new Iraqi government on 15 December. The key to protecting the legitimate interests of religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq is ensuring that they are enshrined in the constitution. It is vital that it contains the necessary protections regarding the full religious rights of all individuals to freedom of religious belief and practice; that all Iraqis are equal in their rights, without regard to gender, sect, opinion, belief, nationality, religion or origin; and that they are equal before the law. It should also include what we take for granted: the protection of public and private freedoms, including the right of free expression and peaceable assembly and the right to join associations, unions and political parties freely without unlawful arrest or detention, particularly that based on religious or political belief. What steps are the Government taking to ensure that the new Iraqi constitution will guarantee the rights of Christians and other religious minorities to full and equal citizenship? Do the Government support the call by the International Crisis Group for the deadline for the constitution to be extended until 15 September? I am sure that it would be better to take a little more time and get it right. It is all cyclical: the more violence there is, the greater the call for equality and the claims of discrimination. The more secure the country is, the better the environment in which democratic process, personal freedom and equality can flourish. Does the noble Baroness accept that there is a need to accelerate the rate at which Iraq's indigenous security forces are trained and take further steps to reconstruct the country, at the same time giving young unemployed Iraqis a chance to make a living and not get drawn into violent groups? I look forward to the day when news of death, injury and discrimination in Iraq is no longer the norm.