The number of minorities in Iraq has plunged. Iraq's Christian population may have fallen as low as 200,000 within a decade from 1.5 million, and the emigration rate among them soared after IS took over their regions on the Ninevah plains. The same goes for the Mandaeans, whose number decreased by about 80% in the past decade. The situation of other minorities is no better.
The current wave of displacement is not limited to religious minorities. The percentage of Shiite and Sunni Muslims who are emigrating exceeds that of minorities by far. However, minority emigration could lead to their gradual disappearance and cause huge losses for Iraqi diversity.
On Sept. 7, Al-Monitor conducted a phone interview with Jamal Jabbour, an Iraqi writer who had just arrived in Germany seeking asylum. He said, “Each person had his own reasons to emigrate, such as the bad security situation in Iraq, unemployment and the uncertainty of the future. There are many Iraqis from various sects and origins with me in the camp.
In addition to the religious minorities, especially Christians and Yazidis, who emigrate the most among Iraqis, there are also Sunnis from IS-controlled regions and Shiites from the south and center, not to mention small groups that lived in mostly Sunni regions like Tal Afar in Ninevah and the Iraqi atheists. Currently, most immigrants hail from hot spots in Anbar, Mosul and Baghdad."
Jabbour described the refugee camps in Germany as chaotic. Residency assistance is solely offered to Syrians. When it comes to Iraqis, minorities are prioritized, especially Yazidis and Christians, followed by atheists, then Sunnis. Shiites have the lowest chances of finding asylum, even though some were displaced from regions controlled by IS and share the same situation as the Sunnis and minorities there.
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