UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

Ninewa Plains in particular have been pressured to convert to Islam. 215 The Shabak
community in the Governorate of Ninewa reported being subjected to violence and
intimidation with more than one hundred of their followers murdered since the beginning of
June 2006. 216 Reportedly, over one thousand families have moved to villages outside Mosul
city. 217 UNHCR received information that the Shabak in Mosul city are under constant
threat of being kidnapped or killed by Sunni extremists and have stopped going to school
and work. UNAMI HRO reported that it was given a list by Shabak representatives
documenting the killings of 41 members of their community during June 2006 in Mosul. 218
It further reported that in late December 2006, two members of the Shabak community
were murdered in Mosul. According to the police, they were targeted only on the basis of
their religion. 219
2. Non-Muslim Religious Groups
A number of non-Muslim minorities, principally Chaldean, Assyrian, Syriac, Armenian and
Protestant Christians, as well as Yazidi, Sabaean-Mandaean, Kaka’i, Baha’i, and a small
number of Iraqi Jews live in Iraq. Since the fall of the former regime, Iraq has been in
a state of considerable political, social and economic transition and, as seen in both national
elections held in 2005, is witnessing increased polarization along sectarian lines. 220
Generally, the Government of Iraq undertakes to protect the right of all religious groups to
believe, assemble and worship freely within the applicable legal framework. 221 However,
such protection is strictly limited by ongoing violence and the limited capacity of the
ISF. 222 While the upsurge in sectarian violence since the bombing of the Al-Askari Shrine
in Samarra on 22 February 2006 has been between members of Iraq’s Sunni minority and
Shi’ite majority, non-Muslim minorities remain well within the current escalation in
Sympathizers of the US-Led Invasion and/or the Multi-National Force in Iraq” and “Kurds and Other
Segments of Iraqi Society”.
215 UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 3, 4 and 24, see above footnote 10.
216 UNAMI HRO, August 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 13, see above footnote 26. See also: Keith
Roderick, The Unholy Month of Ramadan, National Review Online, 18 October 2006,
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGZhNmUwNjdmMDcwODhkNDMyMTQ2Y2UzYTFkMDQxNmY=.
217 Ibid.
218 UNAMI HRO, June 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 12, see above footnote 27.
219 Ibidem, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 14, see above footnote 10. Other incidents reported in
public media include: (1) Shabak Faris Nasir Hussein, member of the Kurdish coalition in the Transitional
National Assembly (TNA), was ambushed by gunmen on his way from Mosul to Baghdad where he was to
attend a parliamentary session; and (2) on 16 September 2004, a Kurdish website reported the finding of two
Shabaks’ decapitated bodies near the village of Ali-Rash in the Governorate of Ninewa. See: Los Angeles
Times, Iraq’s National Assembly OKs final draft of constitution, 19 September 2005,
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_375566.html; Dr. Rebwar Fatah, When religious intolerance
turns to deadly war, Kurdishmedia.com, 5 July 2006, http://www.kurdmedia.com/articles.asp?id=12779.
220 In both the elections for the National Assembly (held on 30 January 2005) and the elections for the
Council of Representatives (held on 15 December 2005), Iraqis cast their ballots based on sectarian or ethnic
allegiances. See: Phebe Marr, Who Are Iraq’s New Leaders? What Do They Want?, USIP, Special Report,
March 2006, p. 1, http://www.usip.org/pubs/specialreports/sr160.pdf.
221 See “Constitutional and Legislative Situation”.
222 See USDOS, International Religious Freedom Report 2006 – Iraq, see above footnote 28.
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