CSI Issues Genocide Warning for Religious Minorities in the Middle East

New Petition Calls on President Obama to Help Halt Religious Cleansing

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Christian Solidarity International (CSI) issued a Genocide Warning today for endangered religious minorities in the Islamic Middle East, and called on President Barack Obama to make their survival a priority as the United States responds to the "Arab Spring".

CSI simultaneously launched a petition to the President, asking him to respond to the upsurge of violence against religious minorities in the Middle East in his upcoming State of the Union Address.

Christians, Jews, Baha'i, Yezidis, Sabeans, and Ahmadias, numbering collectively over 12 million, are among the endangered minorities.

Writing today to President Obama, Dr. John Eibner, CEO of CSI-USA, stated:

"Conditions for genocide against non-Muslim communities exist in varying degrees throughout the region stretching from Pakistan to Morocco. The crisis of survival for non-Muslim communities is especially acute in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Sudan, the Palestinian territories, Iran and Pakistan."

Eibner also reminded President Obama of genocide warnings issued this year by French President Nicholas Sarkozy and former Lebanese President Amine Gemayal.

He furthermore recalled the President's May 19 speech on events in the Middle East, in which he committed to establish universal human rights, including religious freedom, as "a top priority that must be translated into concrete actions, and supported by all of the diplomatic, economic and strategic tools at our disposal."

CSI urged President Obama to present in his State of the Union Address a Middle East policy that includes:

1. An appeal to the UN Secretary General for the issuance of a Genocide Warning and implementation of preventative measures on the basis of Security Council Resolution 1366 (2001),
2. The commitment of at least 15% of US funding pledged for the support of democratic transition in the region to be devoted to combating Islamic supremacism, and
3. A pledge to withhold U.S. funding for institutions that promote religious discrimination.

Eibner concluded his letter to the President stating: "Millions of lives and the future of a religiously pluralistic civilization in the Middle East are at stake."

CSI is an international, Christian human rights organization, campaigning for religious liberty and human dignity, and assisting victims of religious persecution, victimized children and victims of catastrophe.

CSI's petition to the President can be viewed at their website, www.csi-usa.org.

CONTACT: Joel Veldkamp, 1-515-421-7258, [email protected]

SOURCE Christian Solidarity International (CSI)