Religious Minorities Face Bleak Future in Iraq

New levels of violence are being witnessed against Christians and other religious minorities in Iraq, says human rights organisation 'Minority Rights Group International'.

In particular, a number of religious minorities are in danger of being wiped out completely from the country, the new report declares.

Christians who have been in the region for thousands of years now face the options of convert to Islam, leave the country, or be killed.

With reports emerging almost daily about the bloodshed in the country, the desperate situation of minorities has been easily lost in the media.

The report tells that many Iraqi minority members have been abducted, tortured or killed, or forced to assimilate, and many are suffering horrific violence simply due to their religious or ethnic origin.

The United Nations has suggested that there are more than 1.8 million refugees from Iraq across the world, and almost one-third of that number are from minority groups in the country.

The study highlighted the fact that a large proportion of the violence could be directly attributed to the victim's faith.

Christians especially have been given a negative stigma, and have often been perceived as being supporters of the West. Attacks towards Christians are often as they are thought to be "disrespecting" Muslim traditions.

Whereas larger groups have tribal or militia protection, the minorities suffer as they can do very little to protect themselves, the report explains.

The authors of the report have said that the situation is deteriorating and they are calling on the international community and the Iraqi government to defend the rights of the country's vulnerable minorities.