9/21/2024 Iraq (International Christian Concern) — Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minority communities in Iraq continue to face existential threats from militants and regional governments.
Population: 41.26 million (2023 estimate)
Religions: Muslim, 95%-98% or 39 million-40 million; Other, 1%-4% or 410,000 million-1.65 million; Christian, less than .5% or about 150,000
Ethnicities: Arab, 75%-80%; Kurdish, 15%-20%; Other, about 5%
Types of Persecution
Militant terrorism – Fighters associated with the country’s dozens of militias, including groups associated with Turkey, Iran, and the Iraqi federal government, continue to abuse religious minorities.
Government failure – Iraq’s government has repeatedly failed to implement meaningful protections for religious groups still reeling from the Islamic State group’s (ISIS) violence.
Summary
With the threat of ISIS abated across Iraq — the terrorist group was largely defeated in 2019 and has since refocused its efforts in Africa — the casual observer may be tempted to dismiss modern threats to religious freedom in the fractious Middle Eastern state. In the place of ISIS, though, a broad range of actors threatens religious freedom. Dozens of warring militias attack minority communities with relative impunity, neighboring governments in Turkey and Iran operate extensive military operations striking vulnerable communities in Iraq, and the Iraqi government has repeatedly proven itself incapable and unwilling to protect the free practice of religion within its borders.
ICC in Iraq
International Christian Concern (ICC) has long worked in northern Iraq, where a significant population of Christians was decimated by the rise of ISIS in 2014. Today, the displaced survivors are slowly returning to their homelands and stand in dire need of assistance as they take on the challenging task of rebuilding broken communities from the ashes of violent extremism.
Livelihood assistance is a major pillar of ICC’s development work in the Nineveh Plains region, an effort designed to provide sustainable income for individuals and communities for years to come. Whether by financially supporting a new restaurant or funding the restoration of industrial-level chicken farms, ICC is committed to providing survivors with solutions that restore their income and a sense of dignity. In many cases, the projects ICC supports mirror life before 2014 and a return to some normalcy for Christians living with the scars of genocide.
To read our coverage of persecution-related news from Iraq, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email [email protected].
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