Iraqi Christians Refugees in Peril
October, 2007 Fact Finding Mission Report

A fact finding team visited Amman, Jordan and Beirut, Lebanon between October 18 and October 24 to investigate the conditions of Iraqi Christians who have fled Iraq. Initially, the mission planned to visit Damascus, Syria also. Unfortunately, the Syrian government withdrew the visas for the mission just prior to the team’s departure.

The purpose of the mission was three-fold.
1) To interview Christian refugees who have fled Iraq, their advocates, humanitarian NGOs assisting refugees, and government officials in order to understand and document the conditions that Christian refugees are living under, the issues related to not receiving legal standing in the countries where they have fled and the desired response to ameliorate any problems from the perspective of government ministers, NGOs and individual refugees.

2) To communicate to government officials in country the high importance that is focused on resolving this issue, expressing concerns for defending the basic human rights of Christian refugees, and communicating a willingness and commitment to be supportive of finding a just resolution to the refugee dilemma. The mission focused concern for the poor living environments, social and medical services, restrictions on employment, and educational opportunities of refugees.

3) To communicate to the Christian refugees that they have advocates that will assist them at all levels, political and humanitarian. Identify the kinds of assistance that will aid newly arrived Christian refugees and support longstanding refugees. The team sought to identify potential partners in building a network for distribution of assistance.

*To read full report, please download file.