IS-targeted Christians and Yazidis seek UN aid

Organizations representing religious minorities in the Middle East have submitted a memorandum to the United Nations, asking that U.N. missions from various countries call on the U.N. Security Council to issue a resolution against the Islamic State terror group’s persecution of minorities and to take tangible steps to save those vulnerable groups.

The memorandum, titled “Memo to the Secretary General of the United Nations Mr. Ban Ki-moon Regarding the Ethnic Cleansing of Ethno-Religious Minorities in Iraq & Syria And Establishing Protected Zones,” was presented on Friday by the Assyrian American National Federation, the American Mesopotamian Organization (AMO), the Council of Syriac Organizations, the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council, Coptic Solidarity International, the Yazidi Human Rights Organization International, the Melkite Committee, the Middle East Christian committee MECHRIC, and the American Maronite Union.

“There is a growing chorus of peoples from around the world calling for the protection and arming of the Assyrians and Yazidis,” said David William Lazar, chairman of AMO and the executive director of Restore Nineveh Now, a group promoting protection and relief for Assyrian Christians.

“We are hearing from thousands across the globe who either want to fight on behalf of religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, or are pledging their financial support for Assyrian fighters in the region. Because we believe in the rule of law and the dignity of humankind towards one another, we cannot but hope that the U.N. listens to the world’s peoples and acts on our call for action,” Lazar, told JNS.org.

The memorandum notes how the Yazidi and Christian (Assyrian, Chaldean, and Syriac) communities have faced “systematic acts of ethnic cleansing, massacres, assassinations, abduction, rape, and kidnapping perpetrated by the ‘Islamic State’ (known as Daesh) against these communities since June 2014.”