Conference on Persecuted Christians in the Middle East

By Chaldean Patriarchate

The Chaldean Archbishops of Basra and the south, Habib Jajou participated in the Conference on persecuted Christians in the Middle East held in Brussels, Belgium between Tuesday and Wednesday, 5-6 December on behalf of HB Mar Louis Raphael Sako. The title of the Conference was: ‘Christmas after Daesh: Hope reborn for Christians in the Middle East'. Memberes from the European Parliament and Concerned Christian organizations have come to adopt an action in support of the Iraqi and Syria Christians.

Archbishop Jajou called for urgent help and more comprehensive action because Christians have been facing new challenges. They have been fronting two scenarios: one of peace and the second one of violence; ‘the extremist Muslims will try to lead Iraq to be a permanent place of conflict’ he said. He mentioned what HB addressed at a conference in Rome in Sep. 2017 that ‘Iraq is losing an irreplaceable component of its society, the Christian one; hence the countdown has begun for the vanishing of a genuine tradition!
Archbishop Jajou presented a Road Map included the following:

First, moving forward with social resilience and protection of the national fabric of different religions, cultures and backgrounds.

Second, educating the new generation and spreading optimistic concepts about life through social media.

Third, protecting ethnic minorities by a national and international law.

Fourth, calling the Iraqi government and other policymakers to take legal decisions and decisive actions to stand at the same space of everyone in a civil state.

Fifth, calling the Islamic religious leaders to work with other cultural institutions and social media to adopt a positive discourse that deepens the sense of citizenship;

Sixth, reforming the education curriculums in schools to prepare a new and adequate educational program to eradicate the fundamentalist ideology and to adapt it to the requirements of modern times. Finally, he requested to redrafting the Article 2 in the Iraqi Constitution and Article 26 in the Personal Status Low which abuses other religions.