(WASHINGTON, DC) — Eastern patriarchs said the international community must work to protect Christians by taking firm measures against extremism during a Christian solidarity summit in Washington, DC on Wednesday.
Speaking at the opening ceremony Tuesday, Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai called on the United States and the United Nations Security Council to “take a clear stance and more aggressive steps to protect the Christians who are being slaughtered and displaced at the hands of ISIS and terrorist organizations.”
“We came to Washington, the hub of international decision, to say that it is not right to let down humankind as if we were thrown back into the Stone Age,” Rai said in reference to the flight of Christians in the face of advancing ISIS militants in Mosul and north Iraq.
“The Orient is home for Christians who have been there for more than 2,000 years. Today Christians are threatened with extermination, and no power in the Arab or Western world has moved a finger,” Rai lamented. “How is it possible that no one could stop the advancing monster?”
The Maronite prelate stressed that world powers should assume their responsibility in curbing extremist organizations and ensuring the safe return of displaced Christians to their homes in Iraq and Syria.
“The Muslim, Arab and international communities have no right to idly watch violations of human rights being committed. Either we have justice in this world, or we are living under the law of the jungle,” Rai said.
“We came here to say that we are humiliated not only as Christians, but as human beings. We say all the displaced should return to their homes and live in security and dignity.”
The conference, which opened in U.S. capital Tuesday, was held upon the initiative of the Washington-based Association for the Defense of Christians in the Orient.
The patriarchs of Oriental churches sounded the alarm last month over the persecution of Christians at the hands of ISIS, who have captured large swaths of land in north Iraq and Syria and forced non-Muslims to convert or face persecution and death.
The patriarchs called on the international community to intervene militarily in Iraq and Syria to curb the militants and protect Christians who had fled their homes in the face of rampant ISIS violence.