The Assyrian Democratic Organization
The Hague – AINA — The Dutch parliament yesterday approved legislation that allocated 6 million Euros (8.63 million USD) for Assyrians in North Iraq. The money will be spent for internally displaced refugees who currently live in the Nineveh Plains area in north Iraq. The funding is the result of lobbying by the Assyrian community in Holland, spearheaded by Assyrian-Dutch politician Ms. Attiya Gamri.
“The small committee we had put together to work for this has had great help by professional reports about the conditions of Assyrians,” said Gamri, “such as ‘Incipient Genocide, the ethnic cleansing of the Assyrians in Iraq’ from the Assyrian International News Agency and ‘By God-Six days in Amman’ by Assyrian journalist Nuri Kino.”
Two Christian Dutch political parties, The Christian Union and the Reformed Political Party (SGP), were instrumental in pushing the parliament to approve the funding. Mr. Van der Staaij of the SGP has been a key player in advocating support for Assyrian refugees. “My political party will absolutely continue to support and work with this issue.” He said, “The situation of the refugees is awful.”
Three different aid organizations, Open Doors, the Jubilee Campaign and the Assyrian Aid Society have also been involved in attracting Dutch attention to the perennial suffering of the Assyrian refugees.
International aid to Iraq seldom reaches Assyrians, who are concentrated in the north of the country. Aid to northern Iraq is distributed by the Kurdish operated administration, which has distributed money only to Kurds or used funds in a way that undermines the independence of Assyrians, making them dependent on Kurdish political parties and subject to Kurdification policies.
“It is important that Assyrians in every country realize they have a responsibility for our people in Iraq,” according to Ms. Gamri, “and that they work to make politicians aware of what is going on against the Assyrians.”
