• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

UN official urges Iraqi religious leaders to foster solidarity

2 August – The United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq today called on the country's religious leaders to foster the spirit of solidarity which is essential to recovery.

In an address to the inaugural meeting of the Executive Committee of the Iraq Inter-religious Council/Religions for Peace, Ramiro Lopes da Silva said the spiritual guidance of participants will be crucial for the country's future. "It needs your unity to face the threat of disintegration. It needs your collective will to care for its needy and vulnerable. It needs your cohesive resolve to restore its sovereignty and reoccupy its rightful place among peace-loving nations," he said.

Mr. Lopes da Silva also recalled the country's historical importance in the spiritual development of humanity. "It is in Iraq that Christianity and Judaism had flourished for centuries and coexisted peacefully with Islam, both Shiite and Sunni."

Islam, he stressed, "attaches an inalienable right to life and the dignity of the human person regardless of faith." He added that the Islamic teachings "contributed immeasurably and are a boundless source of support to the international human rights and humanitarian law."

Recalling Iraq's recent dark history, marked by massive human rights violations including regime's "genocidal tactics in Iraqi Kurdistan," the Humanitarian Coordinator said religious leaders would play a key role in the healing process. "The sooner you show unity and resolve to the followers of your faiths and sects, the faster will the aggrieved individuals and communities be able to overcome and cope with their traumas and losses," he said.

"The leaders of the different religious faiths in Iraq cannot allow religion to be used as a tool for tribal, ethnic or political divisions," he cautioned.

The current democratic transition in Iraq must be guided by a spirit of unity, he said. "The ongoing discussions should move from the issue of the 'number of seats' allocated to this or that group in this or that committee or public office to a healthy debate on how all Iraqis should be living and working together," he said, adding that religious leaders have the responsibility "not only to further, but also to lead the search for common ground identifying what unites all Iraqis."

Voicing concern about "the present state of frailty of the public services, the tenuous state of law and order, the general lack of employment and poverty," Mr. Lopes da Silva expressed hope that the meeting would serve to identify areas where the UN and the Executive Committee can work together "so that the assistance conveyed through us becomes even more effective."