{"id":27345,"date":"2018-02-20T08:33:30","date_gmt":"2018-02-20T08:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acnmalta.org\/?p=27345"},"modified":"2018-02-20T11:40:52","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T11:40:52","slug":"iraq-acn-announces-another-five-million-us-dollars-immediate-aid-displaced-christians-return-home-acn-malta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acnmalta.org\/_oldsite\/2018\/02\/20\/iraq-acn-announces-another-five-million-us-dollars-immediate-aid-displaced-christians-return-home-acn-malta\/","title":{"rendered":"IRAQ:\u00a0ACN pledges another US $5 million aid for  displaced Christians to return home  Karla Sponar \u2013 ACN International"},"content":{"rendered":"<style type=\"text\/css\"><\/style><h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>IRAQ\u00a0<\/strong><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"cke_anchor\" title=\"Anchor\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP\/\/\/wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==\" alt=\"Anchor\" align=\"\" data-cke-realelement=\"%3Ca%20data-cke-saved-name%3D%22_GoBack%22%20name%3D%22_GoBack%22%3E%3C%2Fa%3E\" data-cke-real-node-type=\"1\" data-cke-real-element-type=\"anchor\" \/><\/span><\/h2>\n<h2><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>ACN pledges another US $5 million in immediate aid for\u00a0 displaced Christians to return home<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong><em>\u201cThey can only come back if they have help\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">To date, 35 percent of the Christian inhabitants of Iraq have returned to their hometowns, as the pontifical foundation <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need (ACN)<\/em><\/strong> found out after its latest fact-finding trip to the region. But only 18 percent of their houses on the Nineveh Plains have been rebuilt, Father Andrzej Halemba from ACN reported, \u201csome only makeshift.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This is the reason why internally and externally displaced Iraqis are currently returning at a slower rate than in the previous months, the head of the Middle East section of the international foundation ACN explained. Since 2017, <strong><em>ACN <\/em><\/strong>has channelled its funding to the campaign promoting their return. In view of the current situation, the international Catholic pastoral charity has now approved another five million US dollars in immediate aid for the reconstruction. \u201cIf we do not do everything in our power to support this first third of returning Christians, they will leave their towns again and perhaps even the country for good,\u201d Baron Johannes von Heereman, executive president of the <strong><em>ACN<\/em><\/strong>, gave voice to his concerns.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Meanwhile, the head of the Middle East section of the international pastoral charity ACN was encouraged by the progress of the reconstruction. \u201cMore than 30,000 Christians have in the meantime gone back to where they lived before the Islamist terrorist groups invaded. However, their situations are anything but easy.\u201d \u00a0The winter is severe, heating and electricity expensive. The atmosphere is at least as heavy. \u201cThe terrorist Daesh troops may have been pushed back, but their mentality remains among some of the locals,\u201d Father Halemba pointed out.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Since 2014, the international pastoral charity <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need<\/em><\/strong> has approved more than 40 million US dollars in aid for Christians in Iraq and has facilitated their return to their neighbourhoods after the terror organisation IS was ousted. <strong><em>ACN <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0released ongoing reports on their situation and the progress of the so-called \u201cMarshall Plan for Iraq\u201d. To better organise the reconstruction process, the charity helped the various Christian Churches to found the committee on the Nineveh Plains (Nineveh Reconstruction Committee, NRC). The committee coordinates the rebuilding of houses as well as other measures to facilitate the return of internally displaced persons who fled their Christian villages on the Nineveh Plains. Local representatives of the Syriac Catholic, Syriac Orthodox and Chaldean churches are in charge of this extraordinary Marshall Plan for Christians in Iraq. They had approached <strong><em>ACN<\/em><\/strong> for assistance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In only a few months, it was possible to rebuild just under 3,000 of the houses on the Nineveh Plains inhabited by Christians, a substantial number of these (784) with the financial support of <strong><em>ACN<\/em><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The pontifical foundation is now setting up projects to renovate another 2,000 houses: 1,500 in Qaraqosh and 500 in Bartella, Bashiqa and Barzani. This is intended as a stopgap until even larger benefactors and organisations get involved \u201cand finally recognise the need that is still there today as well as the ongoing threat that specifically affects returning Christians,\u201d Father Halemba warned. After all, \u201cit will be possible to achieve the greater objective \u2013 namely, to restore 6,000 houses \u2013 only if we provide concrete aid together with other players and only if this region is not left to its own devices. This would enable at least each second displaced person of the Christian minority to return. Otherwise, we have to fear a reversal of the currently still tangible homecoming process.\u201d To keep people from emigrating from this area for good, steps must also be taken to ensure their safety, Father Halemba added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Around 1.3 million Christians lived in Iraq in 2003. At the time, they made up about eight percent of the population. According to the international pastoral charity <strong><em>Aid to the Church in Need<\/em><\/strong>, their numbers have declined to approx. 250,000 today \u2013 with a share in the population of under one percent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h5><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>Karla Sponar \u2013 ACN International<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IRAQ\u00a0 ACN pledges another US $5 million in immediate aid for\u00a0 displaced Christians to return home \u201cThey can only come back if they have help\u201d &nbsp; To date, 35 percent of the Christian inhabitants of Iraq have returned to their hometowns, as the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) found out after&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-newsletters"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - 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