(Vatican Radio) Archbishop Silvano Tomasi is calling on the international community to take concrete steps to stop the ongoing violence and persecution of minorities in northern Iraq, to reestablish a just peace and to protect all vulnerable groups of society.
Speaking on Monday at the 22nd Special Session of the UN Human Rights Council, Archbishop Tomasi who is the Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, said "adequate steps must be taken to achieve these goals".
In an interview by Vatican Radio’s Linda Bordoni, Archbishop Tomasi recalls the concrete steps he proposes in his intervention at the Special Session, which he says was a direct consequence of Pope Francis’ letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon regarding the need to take action to protect those persecuted by IS terrorists.
Listen to the interview:
Archbishop Tomasi says Pope Francis’s appeal has had an impact, and has been effective in that it has really moved the international community to move.
Tomasi explains that this Special Session of the Human Rights Council is a first step in this direction, “to try to tell the world that different countries in the world condemn the atrocities committed: the decapitation of people, the enslavement of women, children dying of thirst and hunger. This is in no way acceptable”.
“I don’t think the words of the Holy Father have fallen in an empty arena. They have stimulated some kind of indirect action” he said.
And then Tomasi points out that the Pope recommends that “we pray for our brothers and sisters – both Christians and non-Christians – who are suffering the consequences of the cruelty of the terrorists that control them”.
“Besides that, we need to act in an effective way. The Church is not responsible for defining the modalities through which the states should translate into action the right and the duty to intervene for the protection of fundamental rights of threatened people. The modalities will be developed by the States themselves” he said.
Tomasi says that “In a way, the church is the conscience that says: look there is an emergency situation and all of us have to take our own responsibility according to our own role in society”.
Please find below the full text of Archbishop Tomasi's address:
Mr. President,
1. In several regions of the world there are centers of violence – Northern Iraq in particular – that challenge the local and international communities to renew their efforts in the pursuit of peace. Even prior to considerations of international humanitarian law and the law of war, and no matter the circumstances, an indispensable requirement is respect for the inviolable dignity of the human person, which is the foundation of all human rights. The tragic failure to uphold such basic rights is evident in the self-proclaimed destructive entity, the so-called “Islamic State” group (ISIS). People are decapitated as they stand for their belief; women are violated without mercy and sold like slaves on the market; children are forced into combat; prisoners are slaughtered against all juridical provisions.
2. The responsibility of international protection, especially when a government is not able to ensure the safety of the victims, surely applies in this case, and concrete steps need to be taken with urgency and resolve in order to stop the unjust aggressor, to reestablish a just peace and to protect all vulnerable groups of society. Adequate steps must be taken to achieve these goals.
3. All regional and international actors must explicitly condemn the brutal, barbaric and uncivilized behavior of the criminal groups fighting in Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq.
4. The responsibility to protect has to be assumed in good faith, within the framework of international law and humanitarian law. Civil society in general, and religious and ethnic communities in particular, should not become an instrument of regional and international geopolitical games. Nor should they be viewed as an “object of indifference” because of their religious identity or because other players consider them to be a “negligible quantity”. Protection, if not effective, is not protection.
5. The appropriate United Nations agencies, in collaboration with local authorities, must provide adequate humanitarian aid, food, water, medicines, and shelter, to those who are fleeing violence. This aid, however, should be a temporary emergency assistance. The forcibly displaced Christians, Yazidis and other groups have the right to return to their homes, receive assistance for the rebuilding of their houses and places of worship, and live in safety.
6. Blocking the flow of arms and the underground oil market, as well as any indirect
political support, of the so-called “Islamic State” group, will help put an end to
the violence.
7. The perpetrators of these crimes against humanity must be pursued with determination.
They must not be allowed to act with impunity, thereby risking the repetition of the
atrocities that have been committed by the so-called “Islamic State” group.
Mr. President,
8. As Pope Francis stressed in his letter to Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon: “the violent attacks…cannot but awaken the consciences of all men and women of goodwill to concrete acts of solidarity by protecting those affected or threatened by violence and assuring the necessary and urgent assistance for the many displaced people as well as their safe return to their cities and their homes.” What is happening today in Iraq has happened in the past and could happen tomorrow in other places. Experience teaches us that an insufficient response, or even worse, total inaction, often results in further escalation of violence. Failing to protect all Iraqi citizens, allowing them to be innocent victims of these criminals in an atmosphere of empty words, amounting to a global silence, will have tragic consequences for Iraq, for its neighboring countries and for the rest of the world. It will also be a serious blow to the credibility of those groups and individuals who strive to uphold human rights and humanitarian law. In particular, the leaders of the different religions bear a special responsibility to make it clear that no religion can justify these morally reprehensible and cruel and barbaric crimes, and to remind everyone that as one human family, we are our brothers’ keepers.
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