Beirut – There are more than eight hundred Christian families who have fled Mosul and Nineveh Plain and have found refuge in Iraq. Their condition is that of the “newcomers” in a Country already destabilized by the arrival of more than a million Syrian refugees. Most of them are in Beirut and have found support only from the local Chaldean Eparchy. Mgr. Michel Kassarji, Bishop of Beirut of the Chaldeans, has just issued a statement to solicit aid in favor of the Christian victims of religious extremism that has forced them to flee their homes and villages.
The Iraqi Christian refugees who have arrived in Lebanon – reports the Chaldean Bishop – do not have the status of asylum seekers, and live in the hope of obtaining permission to emigrate to Western Countries.
They cannot find work, they are exploited by those who take advantage of their condition and they are without any help from civil institutions and international Organizations. “The impression – says Maronite priest Paul Karam, Director of Caritas Lebanon to Agenzia Fides – is that the whole system of international aid for Syrian and Iraqis refugees is on the brink of collapse. There are no more resources, and humanitarian organizations are no longer able to cope with such an emergency”.
By: Agenzia Fides
