Friday, August 15, 2014

Iraqi Families urgently need your help!


"Convert, leave, or die" 

Faced with this stark choice, what would you do?

For hundreds of thousands of vulnerable men, women and children their only choice is to leave their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs, clinging to their loved ones. 

 Armed fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) have systematically overtaken minority communities in northern Iraq and have executed families for not converting to Islam.


Families that have fled are now stranded in dire conditions, desperately in need of humanitarian assistance to survive. Others are trapped, unable to flee the fighting.
But with your help, we're going to change that. 


Together, we are urgently calling on our government to do its part to ensure the safety of civilians and that adequate humanitarian assistance reaches those in need.
Please take a moment to respond, then pass on this action to others who share your concern for the protection of vulnerable civilians in Iraq.

My colleague Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s senior researcher, has been an eye-witness to the urgent need for assistance. She is currently documenting the testimony of frightened families, and the killings and injuries of civilians as a result of air strikes launched by the Iraqi government against ISIS in northern Iraq.  Here is one account:

“We hear the planes in the distance but nobody has come to us or sent us anything. We can’t leave. ISIS will catch us and kill us if we do. For god’s sake, please help us".
Please answer this desperate call and help protect these vulnerable civilians.

Thank you for finding it in your heart to speak out and respond to this call-to-action.

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Alex Neve
Secretary General, Amnesty International Canada 


P.S. You can learn more about the human rights situation in Iraq by reading Amnesty's recent reports, news releases, and Donatella's daily postings on the Iraqi crisis page on our website. Thank you for taking action.

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