U.S. Assistance to Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Iraq

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U.S. Assistance to Ethnic and Religious Minorities in Iraq

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Fact Sheet

Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

October 16, 2018

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As part of the continued commitment by Vice President Pence, Secretary Pompeo, and USAID Administrator Green to support ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq as highlighted earlier this year at the first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, the United States is proud to announce over $178 million in U.S. foreign assistance to support these vulnerable communities in Iraq. This brings total U.S. assistance for this population to nearly $300 million since Fiscal Year 2017, implemented by both the State Department and USAID.

The preservation of Iraq’s rich historical pluralism is critical to reintegrating persecuted ethnic and religious minority communities into a peaceful Iraq. U.S. efforts to meet this objective span government agencies and are being implemented urgently, in close partnership with local faith and community leaders. Our efforts focus on the following areas:

Genocide Recovery and Persecution Response (GRPR)

• Over $133 million in recently launched activities supporting the four pillars of USAID’s GRPR Program, bringing total funding for GRPR to $239 million.
  • Meeting Immediate Needs: Over $51 million in life-saving humanitarian assistance to populations from the Ninewa Plain and western Ninewa, includes safe drinking water, food, shelter materials and household items, medical care, and psychosocial support.
  • Helping Restore Communities: $9 million in funding to support early recovery needs and restore access to services like health and education.
  • Promoting Economic Recovery: $68 million in funding to improve access to jobs and markets, support local businesses, and revive the local economy.
  • Preventing Future Atrocities: $5 million to address systemic issues affecting minority populations and prevent future atrocities.

Clearing the Explosive Remnants of War

• Approximately $37 million in funding to support explosive remnants of war (ERW) survey, clearance, and risk education in and around minority communities. This support has enabled the Department to significantly expand the number of U.S.-funded ERW survey, clearance, and risk education teams across Ninewa and fulfills the Secretary’s pledge to expand ERW clearance efforts in Iraqi minority communities made at the July 2018 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom.

Social, Economic, and Political Empowerment

• $8.5 million in additional assistance to projects that provide psychosocial services, legal support, and initiatives to help collect evidence of human rights abuses; increase minority representation in local and provincial government; increase access to justice for children; strengthen rule of law; and provide livelihoods support and access to economic opportunities for vulnerable groups bringing the FY 2017 total to $18.5 million.

Preservation of Historic and Cultural Heritage Sites

• $2 million in ongoing programming to support the preservation of cultural heritage sites in Northern Iraq that were targeted for destruction by ISIS and other terrorist groups, safeguarding, preserving, and restoring access to significant cultural heritage sites of minority communities.

https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/10/286663.htm

 

 

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U.S. announces $178M for Iraqi minority groups

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/10/16/1761539709626/?sl=3

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Tuesday's announcement brings the United States' assistance to Iraqi minorities in fiscal year 2017 to $300 million. File Photo by Mohammed al Jumaily/UPI | License Photo

Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. State Department on Tuesday announced more than $178 million in new assistance for ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq as the head of a Christian church there blasted Washington as "wrong" for bypassing funding through official U.N. channels.

The new assistance brings total State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development funding to the vulnerable population in fiscal year 2017 to $300 million.

 

The new infusion of money includes more than $133 million as part of USAID's Genocide Recovery and Persecution Response, which targets food, shelter and medical needs in the Ninewa Plain and western Ninewa, restoring health and education services, improving jobs and local economies, and the prevention of future atrocities.

Another estimated $37 million supports the clearance of explosive remnants, $8.5 million provides psychosocial and legal support, and supports increased minority representation in provincial government, and $2 million goes toward cultural heritage preservation.

 

 

The announcement comes on the same day the leader of the Iraq-based Chaldean Catholic Church accused the United States of not helping the Christian minority in Iraq.

"Americans are very nice and very friendly as individuals, but their policy is wrong," Cardinal Raphael Sako, patriarch of the church, said from Rome where he was attending the synod of bishops. "There are promises, but until now, there's nothing ... to help these people return to their homes."

In October 2017, Vice President Mike Pence said the United States would shift funding away from United Nations-supported programs to assist Christian minorities in Iraq and instead move to direct funding.

 

 

"We will no longer rely on the United Nations alone to assist persecuted Christians and minorities in the wake of genocide and the atrocities of terrorist groups," he said at an In Defense of Christians summit in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump has moved away from contributing to U.N. organizations, cutting all funding from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, which assists Palestinian refugees, the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which preserves cultural sites, and the U.N. Population Fund, which promotes family planning.