Iraq PM's call for Christians to return criticized for lacking concrete guarantees

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani's appeal for Christians displaced by war to return to the country has drawn criticism for lacking concrete security, legal and living-condition guarantees. The call has been described as symbolic, with no detailed roadmap addressing the conditions returnees would face. Iraq's Christian population has fallen from an estimated 1 million to 1.5 million before 2003 to roughly 150,000–300,000 today, reflecting a sharp demographic decline. The trauma of the Islamic State's 2014 assault on Mosul and the 2010 attack on the Sayyida Maryam (Our Lady of Salvation) Church in Baghdad has deepened community distrust of state security institutions, analysts say. Concerns persist over the heavy presence of multiple security forces in the Nineveh Plains, unresolved property disputes, slow reconstruction of damaged areas, and reported seizures of Christian-owned real estate in parts of the Kurdistan Region. Former Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Cardinal Louis Raphaël Sako has repeatedly stated that the permanence of Christian life in Iraq can only be secured through a strong civil state that guarantees the rule of law. Critics argue the appeal offers little incentive for Christians who have resettled in Canada, Australia, Germany, Sweden and the United States and built new lives there. No further details on specific return programs, funding or protection measures were immediately available.