Eastern Christians Conference – Lebanon

The “Christian Front” concluded its conference under the title “Christians of the East between Extinction and the Restoration of the Role” in the presence of an official crowd of more than one hundred people, consisting of academic personalities, and delegations representing their parties and organizations: Syriac, Chaldean and Assyrian, Armenian and Coptic, and from several Christian identities and sects, all came to Lebanon from Western countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. From the United States of America through Internet recordings, in addition to delegations coming from their homeland such as Iraq, Syria, Armenia, Turkey, Egypt and Lebanon, with the aim of revealing their concerns in one hand and presenting their aspirations in the other hand for a better tomorrow to which man can be reassured in his homeland.

The conferees, including the Egyptian delegation, unanimously agreed on, the duty of the countries of this East to respect the pluralistic cultural and religious structure that characterizes their societies. The duty to preserve the spirit of coexistence and solidarity among the people of the one nation in order to achieve justice and equality in rights and duties, so that no social component would feel, He is a second-class citizen, contrary to human nature, which has always yearned for freedom. Contrary to this old saying: “When did you enslave people when their mothers gave birth to them free?” Contrary to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The conferees were also unanimous in adopting the contents of Professor Wael Khair's speech entitled "International Protections for Threatened Groups".

The participating Iraqi delegations presented their demands, the most prominent of which were:

1. Neutralizing the Nineveh Plain from the circle of conflict based on its geography between the central government and the decentralized administration of the region.
2. Granting self-administration to the people of the Nineveh Plain and to the historical areas, in accordance with the articles of the Iraqi constitution.
3. Making Christian participation in the three powers (legislative, Judicial and executive) be at the level of the federal and regional governments.
4. Granting Christians in Iraq their full religious and national rights in accordance with the first and second international covenants, all international covenants and agreements signed by the State of Iraq, and granting the special economic quota for the Nineveh Plain region.
5. Amending the Iraqi Personal Status Law No. (188), which has been in force since 1959, in favor of approving articles on personal status for Christians.
6. Putting an end to the practices of demographic change that target the towns and villages of the historical areas for Christians.
7. Forming a security force, known as the “National Police”, consisting of the Chaldean Syriac Assyrians, in order to maintain the security of the Nineveh Plain and the rest of the villages and towns of the aforementioned plain.

These are among the most important recommendations made by the Syrian delegation:

1. Activating the political solution in Syria with the necessity of involving the Assyrians with a real and balanced representation.
2. Achieving constitutional recognition of the existence of a special national identity for the Assyrian Syriac, and the existence of the Syriac language as an official language in Syria.
3. Demanding that Syria be a pluralistic, democratic, secular and decentralized state, with all regions being given a kind of self-administration within a federal Syrian state.
4. Abolition of texts that perpetuate religious racial discrimination in the Syrian constitution, such as the text, that says: “The religion of the head of state is Islam,” and criminalizing all discrimination practiced in the name of religion and race.

In turn, “The Christian Front” focused in its recommendations, on several points, the most prominent of which were:

1. Consolidating Lebanon's neutrality, implementing United Nations Security Council resolutions, establishing a federal system that would prevent the domination of one component over another, a federal system that would preserve Lebanon from partition and that would provide an awaited transition from precarious coexistence to constructive one.
2. To lift the Iranian occupation of Lebanon, by completing the implementation of Resolution 1559. To liberate private, public and endowment lands, that have been seized and used by force of a fait accompli. Also, stressed the need to create “Free Zones” clear from the control of Hezbollah's weapons, areas that enjoy the presence of public utilities such as the airport, the port and financial institutions, in order to put an end to the poverty and deprivation imposed forcibly on the captive Lebanese people.
3. The necessity of generalizing the successful experiences presented by some municipalities on the level of energy provision 24/24.
4. The necessity of forming a municipal police that will exercise the role of self-protection.
5. The necessity of activating the Christian resistance role in culture, language and history.
6. The necessity of liberating the port of Beirut and transforming some military airports into civilian airports, in addition to activating some marine facilities to become commercial facilities that economically revive the people of the surrounding areas.
7. The establishment of a Christian solidarity fund of the East that links the resident Christian with his expatriate brother in order to be able to provide the ability to withstand living, which would thus lead to the installation of Christians in their land, warning that the policy of pressure exerted against the Christians of Lebanon will make Lebanon an alternative for the Cypriot model.
8. Warning that the genocide that was made to the Mont Lebanon Maronite, Armenian, Chaldean Syriac Assyrians, has not become history as it is still practiced against Christians.

Organizations that participated in the Middle East Christian Conference

• The delegation of the Republic of Egypt composed of former prime minister, politicians, and human rights organizations Coptic
• Bethnahrin Women Union
• European Syriac Union
• Assyrian Patriotic Party – Iraq
• Bethnahrin Democratic Party – Iraq
• Abnaa Al Nahrain Party – Iraq
• Bethnahrin Patriotic Party - Iraq
• Chaldean Community Foundation in the United States of America – Iraq office
• Civil Right Citizenship Organization – Iraq – Kurdistan Region
• Syriac Cross Association
• Schlomo for relief and development
• Association des Assyro – Chaldéens en France
• Central Council of the Oriental Christians – Germany
• Assosiations of Syriac clubs – Turkey
• Syriac Union Party – Syria
• Lebanese National Movement
• The World Maronite Tur Levnon
• The World Maronite Union
• Western Armenian National Congress
• Assyrian League in Lebanon
• Independent Stream
• National Liberal Party
• The Guardians of the Cedars Party
• Levant Party
• Cedars Forum
• Universal Syriac Union Party
• Christian Front
• The Maronite Foundation for Proliferation
• Federal Standing Conference
• Independent figures and journalists also participated.

International Interventions through Internet

• Professor of International Law and former member of President Donald Trump's advisory board professor Gabriel Sawma.
• President, IRF Secretariat & Former Chair, United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Nadine Maenza.
• Director of the European Political Foundation Mr Johannes de Jong.
• Dr. Walid Fares from Washington, American foreign policy expert, and Secretary General of the Atlantic Parliamentary Group. He served as a foreign relations advisor to Donald Trump and Mitt Romney, as a congressional advisor for the Middle East, and as an analyst for Fox News and News max. Book author and university professor. Before moving to America, Fares served as Secretary General of the International Maronite Federation for several years from Beirut.
• Syrian Christian Organization for Dialogue and Human Rights, represented by Dr. Wael Al-Lajy.

Lecturers:

• Lecture for Dr. Michel Chamaii: Eastern Christians and the duty of survival and resistance
• Lecture for Dr. Amine Iskandar: Eastern Christians history, existence and future
• Lecture for Professor Wael Kheir: International protections for threatened groups

Official attendance at the conclusion of the conference on Sunday, November 13, 2022

• Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon, Dr. Yasser Alawi, represented by his advisor, Mr. Karim Ismail
• Mr. Georges Azar, representative of the French party “Reconquet” in the Middle East and Africa
• Dr. Samir Geagea, President of the Lebanese Forces Party, represented by former Prime Minister Adi Abi Lamaa
• Dr. Hagop Papazian, Vice President of the Ramgavar Party
• Representative Razi Al-Hajj
• Archimandrite Yatroun Juliana, Pastor of the Eastern Assyrian Church in Lebanon
• Former Minister and Prime Minister Mr. Elie Marouni
• Dr. Alfred Al Riachy Secretary General of the Permanent Conference of the Federation
• Attorney Abd al-Salam Ahmed, representing the Democratic Autonomous Administration
• President of the National Liberal Party, Prime Minister Camille Chamoun
• Sovereign Front Parties
• Independent figures, clerics, and journalists also participated.

Long live the Christians in the East
Free peoples in their own countries enjoy undiminished dignity

Below the closing paper can be downloaded: