by RENE WADLOW
The policy of forced conversions of religious minorities in the areas of Iraq and Syria held by the Islamic State has led to a wide displacement of people and a refugee flow into Turkey. Even Muslim Shi’ites have been attacked by the Sunni militants of the Islamic State. Attention has been given to the fate of Christians, mostly the Chaldean and Assyrian churches, as they are international Christian organizations, and because of the power of the Vatican, which has observer state status at the United Nations and the World Council of Churches, which has non-governmental Organization consultative status with the UN. Both organizations were active during the Special Session of the Human Rights Council on September 1st,2014 on Iraq and have continued to be active on the issue during the regular session during September 8-28 of this year.
In an earlier article for Toward Freedom, I highlighted the dangerous position of two religious minorities, the Yazidis and the Mandaeans. There is another religious minority mentioned by the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the start of the Special Session as being persecuted. These are the Shabak, mentioned, but with no information given as to who they are. The Deputy High Commissioner gave a list of repressed minorities but the list included ethnic minorities such as the Turkomans (the term used in Iraq for ethnic Turks) as well as religious minorities.
Thus there was just this short note on the Shabak, which is a separate religion, though sometimes considered as a minority current among the Shi’ites. To make things more complex, the Shabak are originally found largely among one ethnic group, pastoralists who came from Central Asia, probably Kirghistan during the 15th century. They inter-married with Turkomans and Kurds and thus largely lost their ethnic character. Today, they are identified by their religious beliefs. As with the Yazidis and the Mandaeans, they are members of no international religious organization who can highlight their difficulties. Thus there is a need for non-sectarian human rights organizations to focus attention on them.
Toward Freedom for more