In Iraq, Women of Religious Minorities are being Abused, Shiite City is Besieged

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About 45 IDPs are now living in this open-fronted, half-built hotel building in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region of Iraq.

Highlights of the Updates in Iraq

  • Over 55,000 IDPs are reported to have crossed into Syria from Sinjar District, including many who were trapped on Sinjar Mountain. Most made their way back into Iraq through the Pesh Khabour checkpoint in the Kurdistan Region.
  • Over 200,000 IDPs have entered Dahuk Governorate (Kurdistan Region) and are occupying schools, churches, mosques and unfinished buildings. Schools may not reopen on 10 September as scheduled, affecting over 850,000 children (Syrian refugees, Iraqi IDPs, Kurdish host community children).
  • A water plant in eastern Mosul was partially destroyed by an airstrike, leaving large parts of the city without access to water. Food shortages are reportedly already occurring in Mosul as well. Millions of Iraqis may become severely food insecure later this year if these challenges are not resolved.
  • The sub-district of Amirli, in Tooz district of Salah al-Din Governorate, has been surrounded by ISIS forces and completely inaccessible by road. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people reportedly remain inside Amirli, primarily Turkmen Shiites. The humanitarian situation there is said to be deteriorating quickly.
  • There is mounting evidence that women belonging to the Yazidi and Christian religious minorities in Iraq are being raped and sold into slavery by the Islamic State (ISIS). One of the first to speak out was Vian Dakheel, the only Yazidi female MP, who addressed the Iraqi parliament in early August.

[Source: ReliefWeb(1), ReliefWeb(2), the Guardian]

Let’s Pray

  • Ask God to stop the hand of those set on violence, bloodshed and intimidation in Iraq. Pray for the establishment of a lasting peace that all people groups will be accepted and protected.
  • Pray for God’s protection to the minority ethnic and religious groups, especially the vulnerable children, women and elderly. Pray that those who are being raped and sold as slaves will be rescued soon.
  • Pray for all those who have fled their homes and are living in fear and uncertainty. Ask God to keep them safe, provide for their needs and pour out His comfort and healing on all who are grieving.
  • Thank God that tens of thousands of Iraqis were able to escape from Mount Sinjar, and pray for protection, provision and a rapid rescue for those who are still trapped.
  • Lift up leaders in Iraq and around the world, praying that God will give them wisdom as they seek a solution to the crisis.

Iraq Is at the Highest Level of Humanitarian Crisis

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The Baharka camp, 5km north of Erbil in northern Iraq, is home to thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs) following the takeover of large swathes of the country by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).

Updates on Iraq Crisis

  • The United Nations have declared a ‘Level 3 Emergency’, the highest level of humanitarian crisis, for Iraq. Three other crises in the world are currently sharing the same emergency status: Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.
  • The situation of displaced people on Sinjar Mountain remains of critical concern, in addition to helping meet the needs of a further 12,000 displaced Christians who are now sheltering in the Kurdish capital, Erbil.
  • The Newroz camp in Syria currently hosts about 15,000 Yazidis from Iraq. After a few days at the camp, many refugees head back to Iraq to reunite with families in the Dohuk area of northern Kurdistan, but still thousands continue to come.
  • Many refugee families have been separated, scattered between Sinjar, Syria and the Kurdistan region of Iraq; children have been torn from their parents — killed, kidnapped or disappeared in the chaos. Many refugees report they had to leave behind their elderly whom they could not carry. Others who made it safely to the camp gave reports of young girls and women forced to stay behind and being sold. Families say that their young men were killed.

In the past few days, various UN Agencies have responded as follows:

  • UNCHR> providing shelter and relief items
  • WFP> providing meals
  • UNICEF> providing support to displaced children
  • WHO> providing emergency health care
  • UNFPA> distributing hygiene supplies, clothing and medical supplies
  • IOM> transporting IDPs from affected areas to agreed safe areas, distributing non-food Item kits

 

[Source: ReliefWeb(1), ReliefWeb(2)]

 

*Integral Alliance (IA), a global alliance comprising of 19 Christian relief and development agencies, is now providing disaster responses to humanitarian crisis in Syria, South Sudan and the Central African Republic, and is closely monitoring the crisis in Iraq. CEDAR is one of the member agencies of Integral Alliance.

Closely Monitor the Crisis in Iraq

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Updates on Iraq Crisis

  • Following heavy fighting in Sinjar (Ninewa), nearly 200,000 people have been forced from their homes and are in urgent need of life-saving assistance.
  • According to most recent report, thousands of families are still trapped on Sinjar Mountain without access to food or water, despite limited airdrops on 8 August.
  • Between January to July 2014, an estimation of 1.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) were seeking shelter in Northern Iraq. In addition to the current IDP crisis, the government of Kurdistan is also hosting 230,000 refugees from Syria.
  • The refugees are now suffering from significant secondary displacement due to the fierce fightings near IDP locations in Ninewa and Dahuk Provinces.

Background on the crisis

Since this January, a large part of Anbar has been under ISIS control. This has led to approximately 560,000 Iraqi people fleeing to the northern part of Iraq. Following the fall of Mousal in June, an estimate of another 650,000 persons have fled to Kurdistan Region as well.

[Source: OCHA]

Does Climate Change Lead to Conflict? – Critical reflection of climate conflict

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Climate conflict is a popular international development issue in recent years. Different researches over the relation of climate change and conflict arrive at different conclusions. Some say climate change will lead to fight over scarce and valuable resources like water. On the other hand some believe that their link is weak and do not think it’s worth a discussion at all.

Recent researches show that the relationship between climate change and the conflict causing by it is more complex than expected. A deeper understanding of the connection between climate change and conflict requires a careful examination of the drivers of violence and the role of the environment in individuals’ livelihoods. Some scholars point out that the relationship between climate and conflict is closely linked to the economic development of the region that it affects. Climate conflict is most likely seen in rural and non-industrialised regions where a large portion of the population is still dependent on the natural environment for their income and sustenance. In most sub-Saharan African countries, more than two-thirds of the population is employed in agriculture. A change in climate conditions could have negative impacts on the country’s stability.

However, researchers would emphasise that one should not always assume that there is a causal relationship between climate change and conflict. Many other factors such as political exclusion of persecuted minority groups, economic inequalities, and weak central government institutions may play a more important role in conflicts. When scholars enter into an in-depth examination of the causes of conflict, they find that land distribution and rights of access to resources are the most pressing issues that the communities of the conflict regions are facing. The problems are almost entirely determined by local and national government policies. Therefore, governance and resource distribution policies are often the real source of conflict, but their impact is obscured by the climate conflict debate. Leaders of certain African countries blame climate change and drought as reasons of famines and conflict, instead of their corrupt land reallocation policies or political violence against their people.

Scholar thinks that climate conflict debate can easily mislead people into the trap of environmental determinism, i.e. climatic factors define human behaviour and culture. One such supposition is that a society’s cultural norms depend if it is located in a tropical or temperate region. Scholar reminds us not to ascribe too much causal weight to one particular factor but ignore the importance of political and socio-economic conditions and the motive and agency of actors. Many people just believe that in developing countries, violence is one of their first natural reactions to societal change, where collaboration among societies indeed happens more often. [IPS]

Meditation on Scriptures:

This is what I have observed to be good: that it is appropriate for a person to eat, to drink and to find satisfaction in their toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given them—for this is their lot. Moreover, when God gives someone wealth and possessions, and the ability to enjoy them, to accept their lot and be happy in their toil—this is a gift of God. (Ecclesiastes 5:18,19)

Pray for those places affected by climate change and related conflicts:

  • Carbon emission of rich countries is the major cause of climate change. However, the disastrous effect is borne by the poor and disadvantaged groups. Let us change our consumption behavior and abstain from unnecessary use of materials that consume environmental resources.
  • Climate change triggers more extreme weather events, causing home loss, migration and human casualty. The impact on developing countries is especially great. May those countries have better plans and advanced capacity to combat the increasing disaster risk.
  • Social inequality and power abuse are the breeding ground of conflict. Pray that the countries can improve the social system and protect human rights, in order to reduce the latent factors of conflict.

African migrants tortured in Yemen

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For decades, migrants from the Horn of Africa have passed through Yemen to seek better life in Saudi Arabia. Because of political unrest, more than 260,000 Africans migrated to or through Yemen during 2011-13. The number has decreased since 2013; however, it rose again in March 2014.

The trip across the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea is dangerous, and many migrants drown to death on their journey. Thousands of migrants are stranded in the northern region of Yemen waiting to be transferred illegally to Saudi Arabia. Many are exposed to poverty, homelessness, and abuse.

A multimillion-dollar trafficking racket has developed in the northern Yemeni border town of Haradh, exploiting the migrants.  It is estimated that trafficking and smuggling make up 80% of the local economy.

A recent Human Rights Watch report describes the severe torture suffered by Somalian and Ethiopian migrants in Yemen. Since 2006, Yemeni traffickers in and around Haradh have taken migrants captive and kept them in “torture camps”, where they torture the migrants to extort money from migrants’ relatives in Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia.

Aid workers observed signs of abuse in migrants caused by ripping off fingernails, burning ears, branding skin with irons, gouging out of eyes, and breaking of bones.  Health workers have seen migrants with injuries including lacerations from rape, damage from being hung by their thumbs, and burn from cigarettes.  The torture sometimes ends in death.  The Haradh hospital receives dead bodies of at least two migrants per week.

The camps are usually run by Yemeni, who typically come from families related to officials.  Captured migrants can be released if their relatives pay ransoms ranging from US$200 to over $1,000. The authorities are failing in fighting trafficking, and in some occasions even actively help the traffickers. Traffickers pay checkpoint officials so to drive through without being checked, carrying Yemeni and African migrants to the Saudi border.

According to the 2009 international corruption Perception Index, Yemen is ranked 164 out of 182 countries.  The country is in the process of dialogue to address its major issues and to draft a new constitution.  Yemen is facing a crisis in health care, security, and access to food and water; 54·5% of the population live below the poverty line and this proportion is continuously increasing.

More than 308，000 of Yemeni migrants have returned from Saudi Arabia since 2013, due to tightening labor laws.  These returns have handicapped the government’s ability to handle African migrants. The authorities stopped fighting traffickers, because they could not provide the migrants with food and shelter.

To end this human disaster, Yemen must commit to the 1951 Refugee Convention on the rights of refugees. The international community and donor countries should aim to resolve this tragedy and support governmental and non-governmental organisations initiatives. Fighting bribery in Yemen is also important to reduce human trafficking. [HRW, the Lancet]

Meditation on Scriptures

(The Queen of Sheba spoke to King Solomon:)
“Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.” (1 Kings 10:9)

“And all from Sheba will come,
bearing gold and incense
and proclaiming the praise of the Lord.” (Is 60:6)

The Queen of Sheba (present day Yemen) learnt from Solomon that a major responsibility given by God to rulers is to exercise justice.  Isaiah prophesized that Sheba would at the end time come to praise the God of all nations.  May Yemenis today learn that the security of the poor migrants is a priority of responsible governance, and come to the real knowledge of the Sovereign God.

Pray for the African migrants in Yemen:

  • Pray that the Government will raid and stop the functioning of torture camps, and provide migrants with all necessities for a decent living.
  • Pray that donor countries will exert pressure on Yemeni and Saudi Arabian authorities to investigate and prosecute the traffickers.

Iraqi Women and Girls Face Gender-based Violence amidst Conflicts

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Iraq is experiencing one of the largest internal population displacements in the world and the recent surge in sectarian violence threatens to unleash a wave of new violence against women and girls.

Since the beginning of 2014, the UN estimates as many as 1.2 million people have been uprooted due to fighting between militants from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS), local Sunni tribes, Shia militias and the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).

According to the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), more than 7,000 people were killed in the last six months and more than 13,000 injured. In the month of June alone, UNAMI recorded 2,417 deaths and 2,287 injuries. This is the highest month of casualty rate since 2007, the peak of Iraq’s sectarian civil war in the aftermath of the 2003 US-led invasion.

Shortly after the conquest of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq, ISIS militants armed with assault rifles went door to door taking “women who are not owned” for Jihad Al-Nikad, or sex jihad. In just one week (Jun 9 – 12), women’s rights activists documented 13 cases of women who were kidnapped and raped by the militants who also forced men to watch the rape of their wives, daughters and sisters. Of the 13 women, four of them committed suicide out of shame; one woman’s brother even committed suicide because he could not bear the guilt of his inability to protect his sister.

Before the conflicts, it was already difficult being a woman in Iraq, but the current wave of conflicts threatens to make life even worse for them. UN Population Fund (UNFPA) warned at the beginning of this month that an estimated 20,000 women and girls in Iraq are at an increased risk of sexual violence as a result of the mounting crisis in the north and west. It also raised public attention that the violence in northern Iraq in the past month has displaced approximately one million people, in which there are 250,000 women and girls, and including nearly 60, 000 pregnant women, are all in need of urgent health care and protection.

Women and girls have often been the center of sexual and gender-based violence amidst conflicts around the world. Let us pray for the displaced people of Iraq, especially for women and girls who are most vulnerable amidst conflicts. [IPS, UN]


Meditation on Scriptures:

‘You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;
You encourage them, and You listen to their cry,
defending the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.’ (Psalm 10:17-18)

Pray for Iraq that:

  • The leaders of the Iraqi government, ISIS and religious sects can actively participate in the settlement of the current conflicts in Iraq.
  • The rights of women and girls in Iraq will be protected.
  • The required support (esp. funds) in continuing life-saving humanitarian assistance will be met.
  • The Christians living in Iraq will not be persecuted amidst the sectarian conflicts.