On Monday 5 August 2024, the Utu Human Rights Organisation, under the auspices of the General Directorate of Syriac Culture and Arts, commemorated the tenth anniversary of the displacement of Christians from the Nineveh Plain, at the Syriac Heritage Museum’s hall in Ankawa.
The Director General of Syriac Culture and Arts, Kaldo Ramzi Oghanna, delivered a speech in which he stressed, “We bitterly recall the painful and dark days that our people went through during their forced displacement from our historical areas in the Nineveh Plain,” noting that, “it increases our determination and insistence on clinging to and remaining in the land of our ancestors.”
Oghanna explained that, “thousands of our people have migrated to the farthest corners of the world after this catastrophe that befell them and their regions,” elucidating that, “as a result of this people’s faith, as well as their adherence to their land and antiquities, the remaining part returned to their regions in the Nineveh Plain after its liberation from the control of the ISIS terrorist organisation.”
Then, the representative of the Utu Organization presented his speech, followed by a display of a sand painting simulating the events of the ISIS invasion. This was presented by artist Amjad Shakir. Following it was a dialogue session titled: “After ten years of genocide, what is the fate and future of Christians in Iraq?” moderated by the human rights activist Raneen Taher, during which she interviewed Hammurabi Human Rights Organisation’s relations officer William Warda.
The program concluded its activities with the opening of a photographic exhibition, and the screening of a documentary film titled: “Remaining and Steadfast,” by late director Taher Saeed Matti.
It is worth noting that the Nineveh Plain region fell into the hands of the ISIS terrorist organization on 7 August 2014.
