The Assyrians between the utopia of international law and the bitterness of the status quo.

The Assyrians between the utopia of international law and the bitterness of the status quo.

 Written by Abdal Abdal,

 Member of the Political Bureau of the Assyrian Democratic Party

rooted Assyrian history ,notwithstanding the falsification and distorting attempts since the fall of its political capital Nineveh in 612 BC,makes us proud with the greatness of givings with which the Assyrian civlisation showered the regional nations in particular and the whole world in general. We are not going into details of what this great nation has given, rather, world museums attest to what we mentioned above and the layers of our earth shall reveal the truth of this greatness in the future, depending on the ability of the modern technology to improvise its search and discoveries’ technology. It’s unfortunate to witness the willful ignorance of considering the Assyrians indigenous people living on their own land and describe them as”ethnic minorities” then attempts to efface their Nationality by calling them Christian Components, thus erasing their national identity and forcibly assimilating them into a new nation, with our due respect for all other nations. The UN declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples in 2007 was a ray of hope for the Assyrians ,assuming that the declaration shall be mandatory for all the member states of the United Nations, but it appears the declaration will sink in the oblivion as long as its application does not serve the “interests of the great powers “. Assyrians are still hopeful that a day will come when they will be officially recognised as indigenous people in their homeland, and its sad to see the middle eastern countries don’t even recognise them as a distinguished ethnic minority and they also failed to protect their rich cultural heritage . Again a dream that takes ages to come true, not only because there is no international definition for the word( minority) but due to the expulsive mentality which presented itself in various forms and under the guise of goodwill, stating that ,”non-distinctive approach towards Assyrians is nothing but accelerating their integration into the neighbouring societies,but, in reality it is nothing but concentrated efforts to fast track their assimilation. The question remains Why?The Assyrians , priding themselves with their civilisation, only demanded the protection of their culture,religion and language. They are also seeking an undertaking for their rights and duties and sharing the making of decisions directly affecting their existence,as well as ending policies of discrimination against them. According to””The United Nation’s Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities “in1992, member states have the moral duty of protecting minority’s existence, and according to a number of other resolutions in the charter of human rights warning against all forms of discrimination against minorities,this remains a wishful thinking and a dream for a group of humane regulators amid humanity being gradually sidetracked from its noble mission due to unipolar grab on human destiny after the fall of the Soviet Union whose existence was a crucial factor for human justice and it also represented the power of civilisation which was destroyed by ” the civilisation of power “. Time and again, and ever since the fall of their last political entity in the fourth century AD until this day, the Assyrians were looking forward to a day in which they feel they are treated fairly in their adopted countries, yet again they remained a victim ,only for being of different ethnicity, nationality and religion, they are struggling to keep their dignity and for the right of preserving their cultural heritage and practicing their religious rituals and speaking their own language and teaching it to their offsprings as well as maintaining it, they were not given even the basic human rights, and that is a slap on the face of article no: 27 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights which protected the rights of minorities in practicing their own culture, religion, rituals and the use of their own language.  Also, the suspension of the committee supervising the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights  number 23 (1994) on minority rights demands that individuals belonging to minority groups distinctive rights are to be added to all the other rights to which they are entitled as individuals, in partnership with others. Article 25 of the Arab Charter for Human Rights and the rights of the minorities affirms that no person shall be deprived of the right to enjoy their own culture, or to follow the teachings of their religions,this charter does not refer to the ethnic, religious or cultural ethnicity. The Arab charter calls for the right of minorities to practice their own religion, but it does not recognize the right to manifest one’s religion. The Arab Charter requires that the exercise of these rights are subject to the provisions of the law, while not contained this requirement in article 27 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination or other international treaties, thus allowing the charter to limit practices that are in contrast with the national laws. The amended declaration also warns against discrimination on bases of race, colour, sex, language, religious beliefs, opinion, thought and the origins of nationality. Assyrians in their homelands and in Diaspora are wondering why their governments and the rest of world community remained silent for the last one and a half centuries during which the worst genocides were committed against Assyrians in Syria and Iraq as ugly as what happened to them in Hakkari  and Simmele at the hands of the same extremist groups who have no respect to others and are trying to annihilate the remaining minority of indigenous population in the area in accordance with their malicious agendas targeting Assyrians. Assyrians are questioning what efforts “if any” are made by successive governments and world governing bodies in order to protect their existence and safeguard their safety and stop the genocides from happening , to enable them in maintaining their cultural and national identity and protect them from forced assimilation and discrimination the same way their fellow citizens are treated. The answer is always a mixture of suspicion, despair and pessimism.