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Threats to Religious and Ethnic Minorities Under the Islamic State July 28, 2016

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Threats to Religious and Ethnic Minorities Under the Islamic State July 28, 2016 Threats to Religious and Ethnic Minorities under the Islamic State July 28, 2016 In partnership with the Institute for Studies of Religion and the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom Acknowledgements The research for this RFP publication was carried out in collaboration with the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University and the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom. This publication was made possible through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. About the Religious Freedom Project The Religious Freedom Project (RFP) at Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs is the nation’s only university-based program devoted exclusively to the analysis of religious freedom, a basic human right restricted in many parts of the world. Under the leadership of Director Thomas Farr and Associate Director Timothy Shah, the RFP engages a team of international scholars to examine and debate the meaning and value of religious liberty; its importance for democracy; and its role in social and economic development, international diplomacy, and the struggle against violent religious extremism. The RFP began in 2011 with the generous support of the John Templeton Foundation. In 2014 that support continued, while the project also began a three-year partnership with Baylor University and its Institute for Studies of Religion under Director Byron Johnson. For more information about the RFP’s research, teaching, publications, conferences, and workshops, visit our website at http://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/rfp. About the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, created within the Office of the President in 2006, is dedicated to the interdisciplinary study of religion, ethics, and public life. Through research, teaching, and service, the center explores global challenges of democracy and human rights; economic and social development; international diplomacy; and interreligious understanding. Two premises guide the center’s work: that a deep examination of faith and values is critical to address these challenges, and that the open engagement of religious and cultural traditions with one another can promote peace. 2 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PROJECT — JULY 2016 Introduction In March 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives and galvanize long-term thinking about addressing this crisis, the Secretary of State John Kerry declared that the Islamic State Religious Freedom Project hosted a daylong conference at (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh in this report) Georgetown University. is committing genocide against Christians, Yazidis, Shi’a Muslims, and other religious and ethnic minority groups in During the conference representatives of the targeted Syria and Iraq. ISIS is also committing crimes against humanity communities shared their personal experiences of religious and ethnic and religious cleansing against Kurds and Sunni persecution and their recommendations for policymakers. Muslims. Unfortunately, months later, ISIS and other violent Among the questions they engaged were: What are the extremist groups continue to target and terrorize their victims immediate security challenges posed by ISIS? What can we do through rape, enslavement, and murder, while religious and now to ensure the viability of vulnerable religious and ethnic cultural sites are systematically looted and destroyed. communities in Iraq and Syria? What steps need to be taken to ensure religious freedom, and how is religious freedom a possible To inform policymakers about the continuing travail of antidote to future violence? Community representatives were religious and ethnic minorities threatened by ISIS, and to joined by distinguished policymakers, activists, and scholars. BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PROJECT — JULY 2016 3 Program Welcome Thomas Farr, Religious Freedom Project Knox Thames, U.S. Department of State Religious and Ethnic Leaders’ Perspectives Moderator: Naomi Kikoler, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Panelists: Father Behnam Benoka, Humanitarian Nineveh Relief Organization Mar Awa Royel, Assyrian Church of the East Breen Tahseen, Representative of the Yazidi Prince Advocacy and Civil Society Perspectives Moderator: Eliza Griswold, New America Foundation Panelists: Murad Ismael, Yazda Rajab Assi Kareem, Kaka’i Representative Mona Malik, Assyrian Aid Society Ali A. Zainalabdeen, Turkmen Rescue Foundation Keynote Address: David Saperstein, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom International Perspectives Moderator: Stephen Colecchi, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Panelists: Kent Hill, Religious Freedom Institute Sherri Kraham Talabany, SEED Foundation Christine van den Toorn, American University of Iraq at Sulaimani Post-Liberation: Promises and Challenges Moderator: Robert A. Destro, Catholic University of America Panelists: Mohammad Al Abdallah, Syria Justice and Accountability Centre Bassam Ishak, Syriac National Council of Syria Saad Salloum, Al-Mustansiriya University Pascale Warda, Hammurabi Human Rights Organization 4 BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PROJECT — JULY 2016 Religious and Ethnic Leaders’ Perspectives THOMAS FARR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Wel- does ISIS pose to the region, to the West, and to the United come to Georgetown University. Thank you for joining us for States? What can we do now to ensure the future viability of this important conference on one of the important issues of vulnerable religious and ethnic communities in Iraq and Syria? our day: the continuing threats to religious and ethnic minori- What steps need to be taken to ensure religious freedom, and ties under the so-called Islamic State. I’m Tom Farr, director of how is religious freedom a possible antidote to future violence? the Berkley Center’s Religious Freedom Project here at George- You’ll also hear from a series of distinguished policymakers, ad- town. We’re delighted to be hosting this event with the support vocates, and scholars. of our colleagues at the Office of International Religious Free- dom of the U.S. Department of State. Let me turn now to one of the most distinguished policymak- ers, my friend and colleague Knox Thames. In September of In March 2016, the U.S. House of Representatives—and later last year, Knox was named the State Department’s first special the U.S. Senate as well as Secretary John Kerry—declared that advisor for religious minorities in the Near East and South and the Islamic State is committing genocide against Christians, Central Asia. Knox is a highly effective and powerful advocate Yazidis, Muslims, and other religious and ethnic minorities in for religious minorities, and we’re delighted to have him with Syria and Iraq. Unfortunately, months later, ISIS and other us today. violent extremist groups continue to target and terrorize their victims through torture, rape, enslavement, murder, and forced KNOX THAMES: Thanks, Tom. Ladies and gentlemen, re- emigration. They also continue to engage in a systematic cam- ligious and ethnic minorities in the Middle East have suf- paign of looting and destroying religious and cultural sites, in- fered human rights violations, discrimination, and violence cluding houses of worship. for years. However, the emergence of Daesh introduced the world to a new level of brutality. In response, we have come Today, you will hear from representatives of those targeted together out of a shared concern about the future of religious communities. They will share their personal experiences of re- diversity and pluralism in Iraq and Syria. We stand together ligious persecution and their recommendations for U.S. and in our joint condemnation of the atrocities that Daesh has Western policymakers. Among the questions they will engage committed against religious and ethnic minorities in these include the following: What immediate security challenges countries, as well as against majority communities. We stand BERKLEY CENTER FOR RELIGION, PEACE & WORLD AFFAIRS AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY RELIGIOUS FREEDOM PROJECT — JULY 2016 5 a meeting like this focusing on ways to protect religious and ethnic minorities. In response to these efforts, we’re convening these meetings today and tomorrow at the State Department as a concrete ex- pression of concern about the future of religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq and Syria. The time is right. With each pass- ing day, we’re closer to seeing the liberation of Mosul and the surrounding Nineveh plains. We take these actions out of rec- ognition that more must be done to give minorities confidence that they have a future in their ancestral homelands. We have brought together civil society and religious leaders, activists, faith communities, and diplomats to discuss this imperative task. How can the international community more effectively meet this existential challenge for minorities? In short, we want to better understand their needs and to devise concrete responses to address them. I want to be very clear: The protection of religious and eth- nic minorities in Iraq and Syria is a foreign policy priority
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