YouSaid · the spoken record

Archbishop Warda

lines on the record
8
first
2019-12-03
most recent
2019-12-03
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-security-council

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  1. “They have been there because the protests have given them hope for a future - a future in which they belong as equal contributors and Iraqi citizens. Along with the millions of other marginalized Iraqis, they look now to the international community for action and support. Iraq, a country so often harmed, now looks to all those in the international community for help. We hold all in the international community accountable for that. We believe we have a future. We ask the international community not to turn away from us.”

    2019-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8676 (2019) · source

  2. “In the period before and during the elections, the press, both Iraqi and international, must be completely free to report on and discuss all the issues that need to be addressed by the elections. For that to happen, the current blocking of news reporting, the Internet and social media must end immediately. Finally, elections must be fully monitored by the United Nations and observed by all major parties in Iraq so that the elections are legitimate, free and fair. Only in that way can a new Government set a course for the future of an Iraq that is free of corruption and where there is full citizenship and opportunity for all. The young Christians of Iraq have participated in the protests every day.”

    2019-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8676 (2019) · source

  3. “The international community must clearly understand that the protesters will not accept this, and the international community must not take part in supporting any type of false change. That is not to say that certain groups do not have legitimate concerns regarding their proper representation in any new Government. However, such concerns must be addressed in a way that reflects the reality of the current broken nature of Iraq's Government, and its fundamental need for change and replacement. The first step must be the initiation of early elections. The protesters insist on this, and the international community must fully support it. Unlike the very limited participation of past elections, these elections must involve the country's youth - those who have stood up so courageously against corruption during the protests over the past weeks.”

    2019-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8676 (2019) · source

  4. “In the crisis and the genocide of 2014, over 4 million Iraqis - Muslims, Yazidis and Christians - fled to the Kurdistan region seeking refuge from the evil of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham, but remained within the country. In another major conflict, we are likely to see the people flee from Iraq for good. We are indeed perhaps confronting the last chance for our country. What can and should the international community do to help? The international community must not be satisfied with false changes in leadership that do not represent real change. It is clear that the ruling power groups do not intend to give up control, and that they will make every effort to fundamentally keep the existing power structures in place.”

    2019-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8676 (2019) · source

  5. “If, God willing, the protest movement is successful in creating a new Government, with a new civil constitution, respecting the diversity of its religions, ethnicities and cultures - one based not on Sharia but on the fundamental concepts of freedom for all enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written by this Organization where we meet today - then a time of hope can still exist for the long- suffering Iraqi people. Despite everything, the Iraqi people love their country, and they want it back. If the protest movement is not successful, ifthe international community stands by and allows the murder of innocents to continue, Iraq will likely soon fall into civil war, the result of which will send millions of young Iraqis, including most Christians and Yazidis, into the diaspora.”

    2019-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8676 (2019) · source

  6. “Those courageous protestors have been committed to non-violence from the very beginning of the movement, even though there have been daily instances of extreme violence directed towards the protesters from militia forces, which have continually attempted to provoke confrontation. Over 400 innocent protesters have now been murdered, and many thousands seriously injured. Yet the protesters still remain non-violent. What is at stake? At stake is whether Iraq will finally emerge from the trauma of Saddam and the past 16 years to become a legitimate, independent and functioning country, or whether it will become a permanently lawless region, open to proxy wars between other countries and movements, and a servant to the sectarian demands of those outside Iraq.”

    2019-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8676 (2019) · source

  7. “It is important to understand that Christians have not only sided with the protesters openly, but also that the Christians and other minorities, including Yazidis, have been welcomed into the protest movement by Iraqi Muslims. In a real sense, the protests have demonstrated the true richness of the historical Iraq. This opening of reconciliation among all Iraqis demonstrates real hope for positive changes in which a new Government in Iraq, if there is a new Government, will be much more positive towards a genuinely multi-religious Iraq, with full citizenship for all and an end to the sectarian disease that has so violently harmed and degraded us all. In contrast, the non-violence of the protesters must not be overlooked by the international community.”

    2019-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8676 (2019) · source

  8. “Archbishop Warda: The current protests in Iraq demonstrate the rejection by the majority of the Iraqi people of the post-2003 structure and Government of the country. It is a rejection of a sectarian-based Constitution, which has divided Iraq and prevented it from becoming a unified and functioning country. Instead of bringing hope and prosperity, the current Government structure has brought continued corruption and despair, especially for Iraq's youth. It is very significant that young Iraqis have been the leaders in the protests. Those young people have made it clear that they want Iraq to be independent of foreign interference, and to be a place where all can live together as equal citizens in a country of legitimate pluralism and respect for all.”

    2019-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.8676 (2019) · source