Grossly Inadequate Iraq Response by UN and Obama, Says Coptic Solidarity

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Coptic Solidarity condemns the grossly inadequate and slow response by the international community to the ongoing genocide and humanitarian crisis in Iraq driven by ISIL Jihadists against religious and ethnic minorities. The founding words of the United Nations, "Never Again" ring hollow as the UN and powerful member states lack the will-power to intervene and stop the genocide of religious minorities, yet again.

As ISIL seeks to establish a Sunni Caliphate in the Middle East, their advances "bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide" against communities and individuals who do not share their faith. Hundreds of thousands of Christians, Yazidis, and other minorities have been forced to convert, pay jizya and live in submission, or flee empty-handed. There are plentiful videos and firsthand accounts of the massacring of minority men, the kidnapping, rape, and selling of minority women, and even the murder of innocent minority children. Cultural cleansing has reached unprecedented levels. With such abominable barbarities, humanity is facing a real incarnation of evil.

The UN Security Council's statement last week, condemning ISIL actions and calling on member states to provide humanitarian aid, rings hollow and shows duplicity when compared with others. The effacement of Europe on the international scene at this tragic moment is shameful.

President Obama has finally started to react, by authorizing limited air strikes to defend "American interests" in Iraq, bolster the threatened Kurdish region, and deliver some humanitarian aid. Yet, the response is woefully inadequate. It falls far short of what the catastrophic situation on the ground requires. Essentially preserving the status quo, this response fails to make it an objective of driving the dark forces of ISIL into retreating. It also fails to recognize that ISIL is an international, not just Iraqi, problem, as a hotbed of terrorism makes roots in such a vital area.

In response to the current genocide and humanitarian crisis, Coptic Solidarity makes the following recommendations to the UN and its member states, especially the United States:

1. Authorize air strikes against ISIL forces, by NATO or an alliance of willing countries;
2. Refer all ISIL leaders to the International Criminal Court under Chapter VII;
3. Immediately create safe havens for the minority communities in Iraq and Syria;
4. Provide arms to the Kurdish Peshmerga for their self-defense and protection of the minorities who have sought refuge in the Kurdish-controlled region;
5. Expose and block the financial networks that support ISIL terrorists;
6. Develop a plan and provide assistance and protection for refugees to return to their homes.

The West has blood on its hands by its past actions and inactions that helped "create" the current situation. Leaders of the international community bear responsibility for the agony and deaths of thousands of innocent men, women, and children. Now is the time for immediate action, not for more empty, feel-good, statements and posturing by the international community.

Coptic Solidarity is non-profit organization dedicated to leading efforts to achieve equal citizenship for the Copts in Egypt and minorities in Middle East. For more information, contact Lindsay Vessey 801-512-1713 or [email protected]

SOURCE Coptic Solidarity