Iraq - Country profile

The persecution of Christians in Iraq over the last decade raises serious questions about the survival of the Church in a country steeped in biblical history.

In 2011-12 the Church in Iraq continued to suffer grievously. Bombers targeted churches and homes, priests and faithful were kidnapped, there were arson attacks on Christian-owned shops and other businesses, forced religious conversions and anti-Christian discrimination in the workplace as well as attacks in the media.

Although the constitution provides for religious freedom, the reality on the ground is very different, concluded the US State Dept International Religious Freedom Report 2011. Nor are Christians alone in suffering violence and other forms of oppression; those affected include people of all faiths, such as Yezidis as well as Muslims of different traditions.

Christians murdered, churches bombed, bishops kidnapped

The Christian experience however has been especially painful. Reports released in spring 2012 showed that over the past eight years 71 churches were attacked – most of them bombed – 44 of them in Baghdad and 19 in Mosul, a northern city with ancient Christian links.

A few months earlier, leading Church sources reported that nearly 600 Christians had been killed in religious and politically motivated attacks – almost 60 percent of them in Baghdad, the rest mostly in the north. The dead included 17 priests. Two bishops were kidnapped, one of them, Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, died in captivity. In most cases, those responsible for the crimes said they wanted to rid the country of Christians, Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil told Aid to the Church in Need.

Latest reports list the grotesque killing of very young Christians, including a seven-month-old baby, and two 14-year-old boys, one reportedly decapitated for being "a dirty Christian sinner" and another "crucified in his village on the edge of Mosul" (Source: US State Dept International Religious Freedom Report 2011).

Violence leads to exodus

Such violence caused a continued exodus of Christians from Iraq, a principal feature of Aid to the Church in Need reports on religious freedom. By 2012, concerns had grown about the fate of many thousands of Christians who had fled to Syria amid reports of persecution eerily similar to what they had experienced in Iraq.

Meanwhile, during 2011, facts and figures emerged showing how Christians in Baghdad had fled in vast numbers following the 31 October 2010 siege of the Syrian Catholic Cathedral of Our Lady of Succour, which left 58 dead and more than 70 injured.

In the months that followed, thousands of people fled Baghdad and other centres of conflict. Within six weeks of the atrocity in the cathedral, more than 3,200 had fled their homes and by the start of 2011 nearly 6,000 had arrived in the north. Many of these displaced people were desperate for safe passage, ultimately to the West. Figures cited by the US State Dept International Religious Freedom Report 2011 showed Iraq's Christian population falling from as high as 1.4 million in 2003 to perhaps only 400,000. However, Aid to the Church in Need experts report that Church sources put the current figure at well below 300,000.

Safe havens of the north and Syria becoming dangerous

An Aid to the Church in Need fact-finding and project assessment trip to Iraq in spring 2012 concluded that in key parts of the north, extremism was becoming a problem, meaning that Christians were now unsafe in the very part of the country where they had sought sanctuary.

An attack on Christians and their businesses in the ancient Christian city of Zakho in late 2011 showed the extent of the problem. Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil told Aid to the Church in Need that only in parts of the Kurdish capital of Erbil, most notably the Christian quarter of Ankawa, did Christians feel truly safe. He reported that the city had seen a huge surge in Christians who had come in from other parts of the country.

Christians in the Zakho area complained that the regional government had returned only 40 percent of land lost when they fled persecution in the 1960s. Much of the land given back proved very difficult to irrigate, they claimed.

The problems are compounded by regulations stating that identity cards include the holder's religion. This has made it easier for employers to discriminate against Christians, who complained of being denied jobs on spurious grounds.

With Aid to the Church in Need experts pointing to a significant deterioration in the situation for Christians in Iraq, many Middle East observers suggested the exodus would probably have sped up were it not for the crisis unfolding in Syria, until recently the country of choice for many emigrating faithful. 

Key projects

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  Sustaining the faithful in Iraq

  Amid the constant threat of attack and death, many Christians in Iraq are determined to stay in the country and preserve the Faith there. They refuse to be intimidated. Your help enables them to renovate churches and parish centres, such as St Paul's parish in Mosul, where, despite the challenges, parish life is flourishing.
  Make Donation

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  Heating oil for Iraqi refugees

  At present there are around 30,000 Iraqi refugees living in Syria. Many Iraqi Christian families live in the diocese of Aleppo, and when winter arrives, the health of these people is put in jeopardy, since it can be bitterly cold, especially at night. Thanks to you, heating fuel is being provided for 150 families, so that they too can celebrate Christmas with a little more warmth and comfort.
  Make Donation

Last updated: 16/05/2012