Steven Garmo
Subject of my Presentation:
Equal Rights under the Iraqi Constitution for Iraqi Christians
· Iraqi Christians like any
other minorities in Iraq are entitled to equal constitutional rights.
They are not
refugees but the ancient inhabitants of the great land.
As thus, they have certain alienable rights that can’t be taken away from
them.
· Iraqi Christians have
historically contributed to the betterment of life for all Iraqi’s and non
Iraqi’s in all facets of life from law to medicine to engineering and many other
areas.
These contributions will cease unless protection is provided to them NOW.
· Ever since the end of the war
in May of 2003, Iraqi Christian have been forced by political, socio economic
and internal strife to flee their homeland of several centuries.
This is not something of their choice, but a choice forced on them. We can’t
expect fresh water fish to survive in salt water.
The fish will eventfully die.
The same is true of Iraqi Christians.
Unless something is done to these people who are on life support, they
will soon cease to exist from this land that they have called home for over two
thousand years.
· Unlike their Muslim
counterparts, Iraqi Christians receive no protection. They don’t belong to
any tribes or clans who provide protection.
The government has been unable to provide any kind of real protection for
them. As thus, they have become easy
targets for kidnapping, ransom, harassment, and killings’.. As an immigration
lawyer, I get to talk to many of them and their stores are almost identical.
A business man told me last week that he left Iraq because of threats to
him and his family. He said that he
felt like being in prison. He could
not send his children to school of fear of being kidnapped.
He discontinue d going to church on fear that he and his family would be
watched and possibly subjected to kidnapping or random.
He was afraid to go to work on fear that the insurgent movement will
carry on their written threat to bomb his business.
His care was stolen right in front of his house in plain view of
everyone. He was told by the thieves
who he knew from the neighborhood that if he was to go to the police, that he
would suffer the consequences. So he
decided to leave his house, his business and leave the country.
He went to Syria and from Syria, he registered wit the United Nations
High commission for Refugees and came to the US.
· The population of Iraqi
Christians has dwindled according to UN and other sources from over 1.6 million
before the war to about 500,000 today. This number keeps dwindling by the
day.
· If this trend continues,
Iraqi Christians will soon become extinct in their own homeland. As I
said earlier, one can’t expect fresh water fish to live in salt water.
We can’t expect Iraqi Christians to survive in this environment.
It is important to make life livable for them so they can thrive.
We need to make sure that they are allowed to thrive by first and
foremost providing them with protection from Muslim extremists and others who
gain by their departure from their native home of Iraq.
· The violence in the middle
east and in particular in Iraq has led to deep suffering, corruption, denial of
human rights, lack of equality and migration like we have never seen before..
The wounds are deep and continue to get
deeper. The bleeding continues each
and every day without any significant improvements.
The patient (Iraqi Christians) who is on life support will soon die from
these wounds should we watch from the side lines.
· If we are serious about
keeping them uprooted, it would incumbent upon us to provide them with a
political, social and economic atmosphere so they can thrive. We can’t
expect fresh water fish to thrive in salt water.
If we fail to act now, not only will we lose the current
Iraq Christians and force them to empty Iraqi of its original inhabitants
but will send a signal to those outside not to return to the hostile home.
· It is the intension of many to
make sure Christians don’t leave Iraq or those refugees outside Iraqi to return
to their homes. However, it is imperative that we provide the necessary
constitutional, political, social and economic atmosphere to thrive.
It is thus our duty to provide whatever
assistance we can to help those who were forced to flee to the neighboring
countries of Jordan, Syria, Turkey and other countries.
We must provide them with support to settle in another country.
· In Conclusion, Iraqi Christians are entitled to certain alienable rights under Iraqi Constitution. As thus, they are entitled to equal rights under the law. These rights, like our forefathers in the US when enacting the constitution and the 1st ten amendments to the constitution, must be written into law providing administrative area for them to live or giving them self government. it is my hope that we find a workable solution that is not secular, ethnocentric or theocratic, a formula were Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other minorities can live together in peace, respect with constitutional equality and freedom for all regardless of their race, religion , national origin or Nationality. Thank You and Peace be with you.
STEVEN N. GARMO is a Principal in the law firm of Garmo & Associates, P.C., in Farmington Hills, Michigan where he has specialized in U.S. Immigration Law for over 20 years.
He has a J.D. from the University Of Detroit School Of Law, a B.A. in History from the University of Michigan, and an A.S. in computer Science from Detroit College of Business. Mr. Garmo is the past chair of the Oakland County Bar Association, Immigration committee.
He is a frequent speaker on immigration related issues and a frequently invited guest speaker on immigration related issues. He has published extensively both in English and Arabic various articles relating to U.S. immigration law. Mr. Garmo authors the article on the Visa Processing guide for the American Embassy in Amman, Jordan, Damascus, Syria and Baghdad, Iraq for the Visa Processing Guide published by the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA).
As a Chaldean community activist, he has worked zealously for Asylum and refugee related issues. In 2006 and 2007, he helped write the Iraqi Christian Adjustment Act of 2007 which passed the US senate but failed in the House. Last year, he worked with Senator Car Levin and assisted in writing several provisions of the Iraqi Refugee Crisis Act which was signed by President Bush on January 28, 2008.