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BRATISLAVA, Dec. 24 /Christian Newswire/ -- Despite Christmas and Hanoukka 2008, Christians in Iraq remain under siege.

As the Christian world is celebrating Christmas, and the Jewish community prepares the feast of the light "Hanoukka", Dr Anna Záborská (KDH-Member of the European Parliament for Slovakia) remembers Christians' living conditions in Iraq and consequences for freedom of religion and conscience in the world.

"It is tragic that western powers with a strong Christian tradition contribute to the eclipse of one of the longest surviving churches in the world. The war in Iraq has led to the brutal persecution of Christians. The 'religious illiteracy' of the European Union and the western world is uneasy to understand." Anna Záborská said.

The lands that once were the cradle of Christianity have turned brutally inhospitable to believers. A significant minority of the Iraqi population was Christian. Among them, at least two-thirds have either left or have been marginalized and sometimes killed. Their churches are now routinely bombed and Christian believers hunted down and killed along with other minority faith's believers, according to a report by Minority Rights Group International.

"I urge the western world to develop durable solutions and to propose a consensus to welcome refugees which are persecuted because of their religious belief. If the EU and the western world want to be the champion of fundamental rights, they should start with the most important liberty: freedom of conscience and freedom of religion." Anna Záborská said.

Anna Záborská also called civil society to keep on its fruitful work at the European level : "The Familiokratos coalition (see: http://familiokratosen.blogspot.com/) run alongside with the European Forum for Human Rights and the Family (FEFA) is the very natural European caucus committed to the promotion of the family, freedom of conscience and freedom of religion. Familiokratos and FEFA are the main pillars aiming at bringing together NGOs from different convictions and beliefs. I am proud of their work and they should continue next year."

Anna Záborská, Member of the European Parliament development committee, is a well known contributor to European Parliament initiatives on serious events which compromise the existence of Christians and other believers in the world. She has therefore been committed to condemn the murder of Chaldean Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, in a resolution on the situation in Iraq.