{"id":10862,"date":"2015-06-09T21:23:00","date_gmt":"2015-06-09T21:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/a-year-after-isis-invasion-religious-minorities-in-mosul-could-disappear-93969\/"},"modified":"2015-06-09T21:23:00","modified_gmt":"2015-06-09T21:23:00","slug":"a-year-after-isis-invasion-religious-minorities-in-mosul-could-disappear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2015\/06\/a-year-after-isis-invasion-religious-minorities-in-mosul-could-disappear\/","title":{"rendered":"A year after ISIS invasion, religious minorities in Mosul could disappear"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

<\/p>\n

Washington D.C., Jun 9, 2015 \/ 03:23 pm (CNA\/EWTN News<\/a>).- One year after ISIS invaded Mosul, the Iraqi city\u2019s diverse religious heritage is on the verge of extinction, warned a U.S. government commission on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\tIf appropriate actions are not taken, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) warned, the diverse heritage of Christians, Yazidi, Sunni and Shi\u2019a living together could be lost completely from northern Iraq.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cOne year ago, the world watched in horror as ISIL captured the city of Mosul and targeted its population, including its ancient and diverse religious communities,\u201d said commission chair Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett in a June 9 statement.<\/p>\n

\tWithout appropriate U.S. and international efforts, the religious heritage of Iraq and its people are in danger, Swett said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cISIL\u2019s unspeakable crimes and takeover of northern Iraq could well mark the end of that nation\u2019s formerly religiously diverse makeup.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tOn June 9, 2014, troops from ISIS \u2013 also known as the Islamic State or ISIL \u2013 took the northern Iraq city of Mosul. The extreme Islamist group has declared a caliphate in the large swaths of territory it controls in Syria and Iraq.<\/p>\n

\tWith the takeover, the local Christian community \u2013 which has called Mosul home for more than 1,700 years \u2013 was given a choice: convert to Islam, pay a penalty tax, leave the city, or face death. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\u201cWhile more than half a million people fled Mosul, those who remained have experienced killings, rape, torture, and kidnappings,\u201d Swett explained.<\/p>\n

\tIn its 2015 annual report, released in late April, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said that while all Iraqi citizens are at risk due to the actions of ISIS, Yazidi and Christian minorities face particularly \u201cegregious, devastating, and large-scale abuses, including forced expulsion from their historic homelands, forced conversion, rape and enslavement of women and children, torture, beheadings, and massacres.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tIn the report, Iraq is designated as a \u201cCountry of Particular Concern\u201d because of ISIS\u2019 presence and government failure to protect religious minorities.<\/p>\n

\tThe commission has recommended that the United States and allies combatting ISIS take steps to protect \u201cthe most vulnerable communities,\u201d including supporting or sponsoring a referral by the U.N. Security Council to the International Criminal Court to investigate ISIS action against ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria; taking concrete action to support Iraqi efforts to protect religious and ethnic minorities, and developing U.S. plans to help protect religious minorities.<\/p>\n

\tThe United States should also promote religious freedom within Iraq, the April report said, and should help to resettle refugees fleeing ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
\n\t\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington D.C., Jun 9, 2015 \/ 03:23 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- One year after ISIS invaded Mosul, the Iraqi city’s diverse religious heritage is on the verge of extinction, warned a U.S. government commission on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\tIf appropriate actions are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east-africa"],"yoast_head":"\nA year after ISIS invasion, religious minorities in Mosul could disappear<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Jun 9, 2015 \/ 03:23 pm (CNA\/EWTN News).- One year after ISIS invaded Mosul, the Iraqi city’s diverse religious heritage is on the verge of extinction, warned a U.S. government commission on Tuesday. 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