Chairman Smith on the hearing: “More than half of the 635,000 refugees entering Europe this year are from ISIS-controlled territory in Syria.  They are pushed from the area not only by the violence they experience that is directed specifically at them or violence in which they are caught up.  Humanitarian assistance has not kept pace with need.  The World Food Programme, which reports only 41% funding for its Syria regional program this year, considers this shortfall the main trigger for flight from the region by those persecuted or displaced.  This hearing will focus on the plight of persecuted religious minorities in Syria and Iraq and the failure of the international community to fulfill their pledges of support.”

Opening Statements

Witnesses


Gregory H. Stanton, Ph.D.
President
Genocide Watch
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

The Most Reverend Bishop Francis Kalabat
Chaldean Eparchy of St. Thomas the Apostle in America
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Mr. Mirza Ismail
Founder and Chairman
Yezidi Human Rights Organization-International
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Mr. Carl A. Anderson
Supreme Knight
Knights of Columbus
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]

Mr. Noah Gottschalk
Senior Policy Advisor for Humanitarian Response
Oxfam America
[full text of statement]
[truth in testimony form]
____________________________

Hearing transcript (PDF)