Eshoo, Fortenberry Resolution Defining Persecution of Christians and Other Religious Minorities in Iraq and Syria as Genocide Passes House of Representatives

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Representative Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.) released the following statement after the House passed her bipartisan resolution (H. Con. Res. 75) defining the persecution of Christians, Yezidis, and other ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria as genocide.

“Yesterday, the U.S. House of Representatives sent a message around the world by declaring the atrocities being committed against ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria is an act of genocide. This is a seminal moment for the House to have taken up the resolution and passed it unanimously.”

“The passage of this resolution is deeply meaningful to me as the only Member of Congress of Assyrian and Armenian descent. This genocide is a repeat of what my family endured. My grandparents were being persecuted and hunted down in the Middle East because they were Christians.”

“I pray for the day that there will be peace in the region so that these ancient faith communities will be safe in their ancestral homeland. The stability and the cultural identity of the Middle East depend on this.”

Representatives Eshoo and Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) Co-Chair the Religious Minorities in the Middle East Caucus and together in September 2015 introduced H. Con. Res. 75 in the House. The resolution has 213 bipartisan cosponsors and passed the House by a vote of 393 to 0.

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