Statement of the Chaldean Federation of America (CFA)
On the Iraqi Christian’s Plight
To the The US Senate Committee on the Judiciary

( Watch the C-Span Video of the Hearing , Click "watch" next the picture of Senator Kennedy)

January 16, 2007

Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, for allowing me to testify today on behalf of the Chaldean Federation of America.
The plight of Iraq’s Christians long predates the arrival of the American military; they have been massacred over the centuries by Ottomans, Kurds, and Arab Muslims alike. However, today’s climate in Iraq has made matters much worse for Christians. Christians have always been seen by radical Islamists as emissaries, collaborators or conspirators with the west. In today’s environment in Iraq, that means Iraqi Christians are presumed to be associated with the American presence in the country. Such a presumption puts all Iraqi Christians in danger and has resulted in thousands fleeing the country.
Immediately after Iraq’s Baathist Party seized power in 1968, as a teenager I witnessed with horror their celebration of victory which consisted of lynching Jews in Baghdad square. With the remnant of Iraq’s Jewish population having long since fled the country based on the hatred and the brutal 1941 Farhud (Farhud means violent disposition of others property) where more than 150.000 Iraqi Jews became penniless refugees, Christians have become today’s victims of choice. Shia or Sunni may or may not agree on little else, but all concur on their commitment to eliminate the scourge of Christians.
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CFA is a non-profit (501) (C) 3 community based organization founded in Michigan in 1981

These groups have terrorized their Christian neighbors, thousands of whom have been kidnapped, raped, mutilated, brutalized, and slaughtered since the US declared victory in the Iraq war almost four years ago. They are targeted because they are Christians, and because of imputed support of the U.S (please see additional information page).
As a result of the unabating atrocities inflected on the Christians of Iraq since 2003, their population has dwindled significantly. The Christian community that remains in Iraq numbers roughly 600,000–down ½ million from 1.1 million before the war. The war in Iraq and the downfall of the regime of Saddam have changed prospects for thousands of Iraqi Chaldeans1 living as refugees across more than 30 nations of the world.
For the last four years, it was our hope to see better conditions within Iraq that will allow those refugees to return to their ancestral homeland. Unfortunately, eyewitness reports and testimonies of recent immigrant arrivals from Iraq are indicating that these conditions are not yet provided due to lack of security and the many atrocities committed against these indigenous people by Iraqi and non-Iraqi extremists and insurgents. This staggering number does not include the long-term refugees who left Iraq during the era of the tyrant Saddam a number of years ago and are still living as refugees mainly in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and in thirty countries throughout the world
Countries hosting the largest number of the approximately 160,000 Iraqi Christian refugees which increases by the hour are, in order of highest concentration, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Latin America, with smaller numbers elsewhere including Western Europe. Many of these refugees are single or widowed mothers with children, who are unable to go back to Iraq and want to be settled in the United States in order to be re-united with their families, relatives or community members. It should be noted that 85% of Iraqis who are currently residing in the US are of the Christian faith.
Repatriation of the Iraqi Christians is impossible for all refugees of this group, because most fled from conditions, where, at least until recently, there appear to be little chance of improvement in security conditions, or an end to the internal conflicts, abuses of human rights, ethnic tension, and freedom of religion. Recent reports from Iraq underscore what we all know to be true, the numerous inhumane atrocities committed against the Christians of Iraq continue without any prospect of relief. Our unveiled women are either condemned, shot at, harassed, assaulted, disfigured with acid,-- and the police are unable or unwilling to protect them. Christians are seen as infidels and collaborators with the US by the extremists. Christians who fled Iraq because of severe sectarian violence are unable to return to their ancestral villages in Northern Iraq because of sectarian violence .Unlike Muslim Iraqis whether Sunni, Shi’ite or Kurds, Christians have no tribes or armed militia to protect them from harm and defend their God given rights.
The Chaldean Federation of America (CFA) and the Iraqi community are committed to support strategies to alleviate the worsening conditions that have given rise to the flight of Iraqi Christians to nearby countries of first asylum. We wish to address the likelihood of repatriation in light of mounting ethnic tension and abuses of human rights and freedom of religion, and consideration for resettlement of refugees.

I. CFA OPERATION R4-WAVE I (Research, Rescue, Relief, Resettle): A Survey Study of Iraqi-Christian Refugees World-Wide
Beginning in May 2006, and continuing over an intensive 12-week period, the Chaldean Federation of America,2 conducted a world-wide survey of Iraqi Christian refugees to:
Identify significant concentrations, as well as small enclaves in countries of refuge in this, the Fourth Diaspora of Iraqi Christians in 100 years;
Build a data-driven strategy to assist with humanitarian relief and/or facilitate Iraqi Christians refugees resettlement in the receiving country and/or in the US;
The CFA’s initiative is guided by a systematic three-stage design that included: survey development and validation; outreach and dissemination; data collection, handling, entry, organization and analysis.
The CFA’s Wave 1 Survey, which was concluded on August 15, 2006, identified 1204 cases representing 3,927 Iraqi Christian refugees who have fled to 30 countries of the world across the regions of the Middle East, Central Asia, the Far East, Europe, Africa and South America. Although the 92% majority of refugees have aggregated in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey, there are growing numbers in northern Europe in the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Sweden and as yet unrecorded Wave II movements to countries of transit in South America (Wave I identified a handful of refugees in Peru, Ecuador, Belize and Bolivia). Approximately 29% (28.49%) of this first Wave of potential beneficiaries have “Protected Status” by virtue of UNHCR or other forms of certification.
85% of the potential beneficiaries reported religious persecution as uppermost among those factors contributing to exodus from their ancestral homeland. Nearly 70% of the sample reported multiple precipitating factors for their flight, including the experience of torture or violence against them or family members (directly attributable to their religious minority status), the loss of their homes and/or businesses to destruction, looting or confiscation by Islamist gangs, militia or insurgents (37%). Although less than 7% of the respondents reported sexual assaults and/or rapes as among those factors precipitating flight, more than twice that figure, or nearly 17% of the sample, indicated the vulnerabilities of the women and girls of their families as factors in their flight from Iraq, with 25% having experienced the abduction of mainly female family members by marauding insurgents, Islamist gangs and/or militia. Only 2% of Wave I respondents expressed the potential for “local integration,” which may have been surmised based on the less than optimal conditions and/or receptivity in the countries of transit. Of additional note is the large number of cases (25.82% overall) that could be considered exceptional, or indicative of particular vulnerability due to the horrific nature and extent of their sufferings.
The CFA survey found that 8% of those surveyed claimed retaliation for collaboration with the U.S forces in Iraq as a key factor contributing to there exodus from Iraq. Based on the current estimate of 160,000 Iraqi Christian refugees, that would mean nearly 13,000 Iraqi Christians have fled Iraq based at least in part on their connection to the American military. There are no doubt more, like the Chaldean witness that testified at today’s hearing, who were connected with US contractors or humanitarian efforts. We believe the percentage of Christian Iraqi’s fleeing as a result of affiliation with the United States will only rise as our effort begins to survey more recent refugees.
At this juncture, we urge you to take a stand and act expeditiously on the knowledge you have of the humanitarian crisis of our people both in Iraq and in countries of supposed refuge. They are anxious for a country to call “home”.

We present the following seven key facts in support of the urgent need to protect, relieve and to resettle the Iraqi Christian refugees:
1.At this time, the Iraqi government is unable to protect members of Iraqi religious and ethnic minorities such as the Christians.
2.Most Iraqi minorities, including Christians, who have fled Iraq, cannot return for fear of their lives. They have been subjected to relentless attacks by radical elements within and outside the Iraqi government based on their ethnicity and religious identity. CFA has amassed an archive of letters of threat, photos of tortured and mutilated Iraqi Christians, bombed-out churches, homes and personal properties. Exhibits documenting these assertions are available for your review.
3.Many Iraqi Christians are persecuted because of their religious affiliation and their real or imputed connections to the American military, or to the U.S. interests or policies.
4.Iraqi Christian refugees who have fled to neighboring host countries are left unprotected and their situation is precarious with not even a remote possibility of local integration. Iraqi Christian refugees in the region are destitute, unable to work or have their children educated, and live under the threat of repatriation.
5.CFA’s surveys indicate that 85% of the Iraqi Christians refugees have relatives in the US, who are gravely concerned about the safety of their relatives.
6.UNHCR is currently referring Iraqi Refugees to the U.S. Refugee Program as P-1 cases but pitifully few cases have actually been referred. The P-1 process is slow; the admissible numbers unrealistically low; and the process exacerbates the separation, frustration and continued suffering of the refugees in countries that would rather they leave..
7. The U.S. previously provided access to Family Reunion for a small segment of these refugees through Visa 92/93 and P-3 which were very narrowly focused. Also, Iraqi Christians who have some other legal status in the U.S. are not permitted to petition for their relatives under the refugee program.

II. Recommendations and Petitions:
Given these circumstances, the Chaldean Federation strongly urges Congress to:
1.Designate Iraqi Christians eligible for Priority Two (P-2) Group Referrals Outside their Country of Origin, per the Worldwide Priority System for FY 2007 (pursuant to Immigration and Nationality Act, Section 207[e][1]-[7]), similar to those programs for Burmese in Tham Hin Refugee Camp, Iranian religious minorities in Austria, the Tibetans in Nepal, etc.
2.Include Iraqi Christians as eligible for Priority Three (P-3) Status –Family Reunification because of the lack of referrals from Priority 1 and Priority 2; the massive number of Iraqi Christian refugees who continue to flee the country; and who do not plan to repatriate. Specifically, the CFA research projects that over 100,000 Iraqi Christian refugees qualify in this category with “anchor” relatives, including spouses, unmarried children under 21; parents; who were admitted as asylee; lawful permanent residents of the United States; or citizens of the US, originally admitted as refugees or asylee.
3.Create special designation for Internally Displaced Iraqi Christians whose persecution or fear of persecution is based on actual or imputed association with U.S forces and/or U.S. policies or U.S non government establishments and entities.
4.Ensure that the US State Department provides significant humanitarian relief to these refugees and to the Internally Displaced Iraqi Christians who have lost their homes, sources of livelihood and access to education for their children due to targeted discrimination and religious persecution. We recommend that special aid packages be extended to Non-Governmental Organizations in countries of refuge so that they may work to alleviate the medical, social and economic distress of the Iraqi Christian refugees.
5.CFA strongly encourages this Congress to examine the Regional UN High Commission on Refugees in the Middle East to determine whether the vulnerable Iraqi Christian refugees are receiving the appropriate relief and protections in the countries of refuge which they are guaranteed by International Law.
6.Include legislation to help address this issue in comprehensive immigration reform legislation in the 110th Congress. Such language was included in S.2611, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006, which passed by the Senate last year. That legislative language was included as an amendment introduced by US Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) which would help thousands of religious minorities such as Iraqi Christians who have come to the United States seeking relief from persecution they faced in Iraq. Due to the long delays in the immigration system, however, their cases were not heard before April 30, 2003, when the U.S declared victory in Iraq. When these asylum seekers finally had their day in court, the immigration judge denied their application because the government in Iraq that persecuted these individuals was no longer in power. Currently in the U.S., approximately 3,000 Christian Iraqis are in jeopardy of being deported to a country where vicious sectarian war is raging and most of their coreligionists are fleeing their ancestral land Iraq.
7.Address the Department of Homeland Security-the US Citizenship and Immigration Services problems in processing Background Check Services on Iraqi Christian immigrants and refugees. The waiting time frame is extreme and unjustified, with some cases involving delays up to 5 years. Family members are separated from each other for many months and to several years.
Mr. Chairman, with the help of your Subcommittee and the many community and humanitarian organizations concerned about this issue, we are confident that we will provide life-saving aid to dispossessed people who have fled war and intense insurgency and persecution, and who because of their religious faith have no place to call home and no means to survive with dignity.

Respectfully Submitted,
Joseph T. Kassab
Executive Director
Chaldean Federation of America