Assyrian Democratic Organization ADO
GENEVA — Reliable sources on the ground in many Iraqi villages say they were deprived of their right to vote in Sunday’s election, according to Philippe LeBlanc, OP, NGO representative at the United Nations in Geneva.
Nearly 150,000 Iraqis were unable to cast their ballots.
Eight largely Christian villages in the plains of Nineveh, near Mosul, waited in vain for the ballot boxes to arrive. The villages included Karakosh, Barttella, Karamles, Bahizan, Cheikhane, Bashika, Al’Hamdanya and Bagdida. These villages are essentially composed of Christians and Yezidis, a Kurdish religious sect, and they are located in a calmer zone than the city of Mosul. Nevertheless, no electoral team showed up on Sunday, Jan. 30, nor on Monday, Jan. 31.
LeBlanc, who is in close contact with Iraqis, serves at the United Nations Human Rights Commission as the NGO representative of the Dominican Order, a world wide network of men and women who have members in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East. LeBlanc and U.S. Dominicans are in the process of trying to regain the franchise for the Iraqis in this strategic region of the country.
LeBlanc’s sources report that in Karakosh, people demonstrated in the streets to protest what they considered to be a violation of their right to vote. These villages are situated between the Arab-Sunni region of Mosul and the Kurdish autonomous region. The Christian, mostly Chaldean and Syriac villagers, the Yezidis, and small groups of Kurds and Arabs live there in harmony and claim the right to participate in political decisions that concern them.
He said, “For certain people in the area, this was a deliberate attempt to prevent these villages from voting in order to avoid the creation of territories or areas with Christians or Yezidis in the majority”.
“In the midst of the great instability in Iraq, the minorities had areas where they could live according to their customs and in relative peace. The fact that they were deprived of their right to vote does not augur well for the future of these communities.
“The response of the Iraqi national authorities and of the international community to this situation is a litmus test for the world’s commitment to a democratic Iraq. Will these 150,000 Iraqis be given their opportunity to vote? I hope so,” said LeBlanc.
Editor’s Note: Two U.S. Dominicans were in Iraq, along with others, one year ago and are available for interviews, names and phone numbers are listed below; contact them for comment:
Beth Murphy, OP, 217-341-6413, Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Ill.
Roberta Papara, OP, 561-626-1300 ext. 16, Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, Wis.
Another source: Judith Hilbing, OP, 708-714-9050, Chicago, Ill., North American co-promoter for Justice, Peace and Care of Creation is the co-promoter with Philippe LeBlanc, OP
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