TREATMENT OF CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ

That this House is deeply concerned by the mass exodus of Iraqi Christians, which has decimated much of Iraq's ancient Assyrian-Chaldean community; notes that the Assyrian-Chaldeans make up over 95 per cent. of Iraq's Christians and that this exodus has largely been caused by escalating violence against Christians from fanatical extremists, including the bombing of churches and the assassination of Iraqi Christians; further notes that there has been illegal expropriation of Assyrian-Chaldean land and villages in Dohuk province and the Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq; recognises that Iraqi Christians are a major force for moderation, who can act as a significant buffer against the spread of extremism in Iraq; calls on the British and Iraqi governments urgently to encourage and support the creation of a self-governing province in Iraq for the Assyrian-Chaldeans, linked to the central government in Baghdad, situated in and around the Nineveh Plains and including the Talkepeh, Hamdaniya and Bashika districts, and governed by the Assyrian-Chaldeans and other ethnic groups living in that area, as these lands form part of the ancestral homeland of the Assyrian-Chaldeans and are still heavily populated by them; and urges the UK and Iraqi governments to support financially the reconstruction of the region, to end the political marginalisation of the democratically-elected Assyrian-Chaldean representatives in Iraq, to assist the Assyrian-Chaldeans in reclaiming their land and villages in Dohuk province and the Nineveh Plans, and to support financially internally-displaced Assyrian-Chaldeans and the return and resettlement of Assyrian-Chaldean refugees.