External Reports
“Life after ISIS: New challenges for Christianity in Iraq
Institution: ACN International
Publication Date: 6/2020
AID TO THE CHURCH IN NEED (ACN) has published a major report on the status of Christianity in northern Iraq, “Life after ISIS: New challenges for Christianity in Iraq.” It includes the results of a series of surveys of the Christian population. The study identifies the major challenges facing Iraqi Christians who returned to their hometowns on the Nineveh Plains, after fleeing the region for Kurdistan, following the ISIS invasion of the region in 2014.
Migration Of Palestinian Christians: Drivers And Means Of Combating It
Institution: Palestine Center for Policy and Survey Research
Publication Date: 8/6/2020
The Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) conducted a public opinion poll among Palestinian Christians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the period between 27 January and 23 February 2020. The poll sought to explore the reasons that drive Christians to emigrate from their homeland in Palestine to other countries and the various means that could potentially stem the flow. Total size of the sample is 995 Christian adults interviewed face to face in 98 selected locations in seven Palestinian governorates. Margin of error is +/-3%.
Annual Report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
Institution: United States Commission on International Religious Freedom
Publication Date: 2020
The 2020 Annual Report assesses religious freedom violations and progress during calendar year 2019 in 29 countries and makes independent recommendations for U.S. policy. The key findings, recommendations, and analysis in this report are based on a year’s research by USCIRF, including travel, hearings, meetings, and brief- ings, and are approved by a majority vote of Commissioners, with each Commissioner, under the statute, having the option to include a statement with his or her own individual views.
Religious Pluralism in the Middle East: the Canary in the Coal Mine | Middle East Bulletin 36
Institution: Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East & Islamic Studies (CEMMIS)
Publication Date: 2019
Contents
Living as a religious minority in Erdogan’s Turkey: Sunnification and conspiracy theories
Christians in Syria and Lebanon: Precarious balances
Facets of religious pluralism in Egypt
Holy Lands of faith, blood and conflicts
The United Arab Emirates: Institutionalizing tolerance
Bahaism: A peaceful religion under persecution
Kakais’ evolving dilemma; Survival through tested secrecy or claiming more in the open?
Yazidis: attempts to recover and struggle to survive in post-ISIS era
The Christian Predicament in the Middle East | Middle East Bulletin 28
Institution: Centre for Mediterranean, Middle East & Islamic Studies (CEMMIS)
Publication Date: 2015
Contents
Interview with the Ambassador of Palestine in Athens, Marwan Emile Toubassi
A protracted dystopia ? Political Islam and Christianity in the Middle East
Dissecting Sectarianism: the political economy of ‘Christians’
Christian militias in Syria and Iraq: beyond the neutrality/passivity debate
The Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church in the Middle East: A Match Made in Heaven
Εvangelists at opposite sides
Persecuted minorities amongst IS’s rampage: the case of the Assyrians
The Antiochian Church under threat
The Copts and the Egyptian State: A Love-Hate Relationship
Dealing with Shadows: Turkey and its Christian minorities
Greek-Orthodox Arabs in the Holy Land
Christianity in the Middle East: terms for an interdisciplinary debate
CRPME Report on Religious Pluralism in the Middle East | No.1
Institution: Centre for Religious Pluralism in the Middle East (CRPME)
Publication Date: 2016
Executive Summary
The report is addressing main features and challenges of religious pluralism in the Middle East in the last six months. The region covered is mostly the Middle East including the Arabian Peninsula. Sometimes it may also include countries of the Maghreb, when there are developments of particular interest. The report is focusing on the great challenges religious pluralism faces in the region but, at the same time, it is highlighting positive state and community initiatives that promote religious co-existence and pluralism. The documentation work leading to the report reflects the research already posted in the Centre’s website, which is being constantly updated with the developments regarding the religious communities in the region. It is, thus, neither exhaustive nor discursive in covering all the relevant events but it focuses on the events that could reveal certain issues, trends, continuities and discontinuities.
CRPME Special Report | No.2 | Untying the Knots of Religious Diversity in Iraqi Kurdistan: Deploying Pluralism against Barbarism
Institution: Centre for Religious Pluralism in the Middle East (CRPME)
Publication Date: 2016
Executive Summary
Beside the threat of ISIS, Iraqi Kurdistan is facing deep political and economic crisis that have negative implications on religious pluralism, particularly, in the face of uncertainty after the liberation of Mosul and the broader region of Nineveh.
The work of KRG and, more specifically, the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, in conjunction with various initiatives from representatives of different communities in the Ministry are noteworthy. Law 5 of 2015 for the ‘Protection of the Components [Minorities] of Kurdistan’ is one of the fruits of their efforts. This promising, albeit limited, work shows the intention of KRG to create an environment of religious tolerance, which (will) distinguish it from the rest of Iraq and the wider region. This view, however, is not always shared by the politico-religious leadership and the members of the communities, who often portray these changes as merely cosmetic.
CRPME Report on Religious Pluralism in the Middle East | No.3
Institution: Centre for Religious Pluralism in the Middle East (CRPME)
Publication Date: 2017
Executive Summary
The CRPME report is addressing main features and challenges regarding religious pluralism in the Middle East during the second half of 2016. The region of focus includes the countries of Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and Morocco. The aim of the report is, on the one hand, to pinpoint the challenges related to religious pluralism faces in the region. On the other hand, it strives to highlight positive state and community initiatives that promote religious co-existence and pluralism. The documentation work leading to the report reflects the research already published on the CRPME site, which is being constantly updated with the developments regarding the religious communities in the region. It is, thus, neither exhaustive nor discursive in covering all the relevant events but it focuses on the events that could reveal certain issues, trends, continuities and discontinuities.
CRPME Report on Religious Pluralism in the Middle East | No.4
Institution: Centre for Religious Pluralism in the Middle East (CRPME)
Publication Date: 2017
Executive Summary
The objective of the report is addressing the main developments concerning religious pluralism in the Middle East and highlighting the challenges that religious coexistence faces in the region. Building on the findings of the previous three CRPME reports, the analysis at hand focuses on featuring events and phenomena that have occurred in the past six months. The region covered includes Iraq and Syria, Egypt, Turkey and the Gulf Arab states. Additionally, the analysis of foreign actors’ humanitarian and diplomatic efforts vis-à-vis religious minorities in the Middle East is also part of this study. The documentation work carried out by the CRPME and published on the centre’s website serves as the basis for the report and is an ongoing endeavour, aiming at providing continuous updates on the state of religious pluralism in the Middle East. The findings presented, therefore, are not exhaustive, but highlight main trends and continuities.
CRPME Special Report | No.5 | 2nd Athens International Conference on Religious and Cultural Pluralism & Peaceful Coexistence in the Middle East
Institution: Centre for Religious Pluralism in the Middle East (CRPME)
Publication Date: 2017
Executive Summary
The objective of this report is to highlight the main themes featured in the speeches of the participants of the 2nd Athens International Conference on “Religious and Cultural Pluralism and Peaceful Coexistence in the Middle East”, which took place from 30 to 31 October 2017. The conference aimed at overviewing main features and developments of religious pluralism in the Middle East in the past two years and proposed positive initiatives to promote religious coexistence and pluralism in the region.
