Christians in the Middle East rank high on Peoples Under Threat list
Countries in the Middle East have shot up an annual list of places where vulnerable minorities are most at risk of genocide, political killing and systematic repression, a human rights group said on Wednesday.
Syria tops the 2015 Peoples Under Threat list, compiled by Minority Rights Group International (MRG). The civil conflict there, now in its fifth year, has killed more than 220,000 people and displaced millions.
MRG said Christians, Shi’ites, Alawites, Kurds, Palestinians and political targets are particularly threatened.
“Extreme sectarianism…has now infected much of the country,” it said in a report released with the list. “Only in the Kurdish-held regions of the north…has there been a serious attempt at establishing an inclusive democracy.”
Iraq, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Lebanon and Afghanistan, countries where attacks attributed to the Sunni militant group Islamic State have taken place in recent months, all rank high on the list.
“The threat to the Middle East from ISIS should not be underestimated, but most people have more to fear from their own governments,” said Mark Lattimer, MRG’s Executive Director, using another name for Islamic State.