CHRISTIANS IN IRAQ

That this House notes the recent visit by the Archbishop of Erbil Bashar Warda to Parliament as a guest of the All-Party Parliamentary group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq as part of his first visit to the UK hosted by the charity Aid to the Church in Need; further notes his assessment that, in response to violent attacks from 2003, many Iraqi Christians from Baghdad and Mosul have fled to Iraqi Kurdistan, where they have been welcomed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has established an emergency programme to handle the sudden influx and where there is no religious persecution of Christians; endorses his view that the KRG requires help from the federal government in Baghdad for specific projects and infrastructure for these Iraqi citizens; understands that Kurdistan Regional President Barzani is also seeking wider international support for his government's efforts to protect Christians; and respectfully urges the Iraqi federal government to discuss this asa matter of urgency with the KRG in order to help preserve the position of Christians in Iraq.