US plans Middle East religious rights envoy

Mathloom · Jul 31, 2011

Washington: The US House of Representatives has voted to establish a US envoy to protect the rights of religious minorities in the Middle East and South Asia, amid rising concern over Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan.

The US House voted 402 to 20 on Friday to require President Barack Obama to set up the envoy post. The Senate must follow suit, but senators from both parties have voiced support.

The envoy will be tasked with pressing minority rights in a broad region covering the Arab world, Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent. But the Bill asks the envoy to prioritise Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Lawmakers voiced concern for the safety of Egypt's Coptic Christians during the transition following the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak. At least two dozen people died in religion-related violence in Egypt in March and May.

Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey called the fate of Egypt's ancient Christian community - which makes up 10 per cent of the population - "the bellwether of the rights for religious minorities in the Middle East".

"As the largest and one of the oldest minorities, they are suffering and their escalating agony portends suffering throughout the region," Smith, a Republican and devout Catholic, said on the House floor.

Smith said he heard accounts that Coptic women and girls as young as 14 "are being systematically lured from their families or kidnapped off the street corners and forced to change their religion and forced to marry outside of their community".

Lawmakers also voiced worries over the treatment of Christians in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Ahmadiyah Muslim minority in Pakistan, Bahais in Iran and Hindus in Bangladesh.

"In Afghanistan and Pakistan, countries where the United States has invested its treasure and the lives of countless brave American soldiers, persecution of Christians runs rampant," said Representative Frank Wolf, a Republican from Virginia who sponsored the Bill.

All 20 lawmakers who voted against the Bill were Republicans, mostly hawks against government spending. The legislation authorised $1 million a year for the envoy and staff through 2015.

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/usa/us-plans-middle-east-religious-rights-envoy-1.845226
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Very interesting.

Thoughts?

I'm going to refrain from commenting fully till I hear some views and till I think about it a little more. I'm wondering how the US House would feel about Saudi Arabia developing an envoy to protect the rights of religious minorities in the USA amid rising concern about anti-immigrant/Muslim terrorism.

Carl Herrera · Jul 31, 2011

Washington: The US House of Representatives has voted to establish a US envoy to protect the rights of religious minorities in the Middle East and South Asia, amid rising concern over Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan.
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Why isn't Obama trying to protect religious white people, too?

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