Moscow, March 21, 2015
The situation of Christians in the Middle East will be examined at the end of March for the first time at a special meeting of the UN Security Council, reports RIA-Novosti.
“On March 27 the situation of Christians in the Middle East will be examined at the ministerial level by the UN Security Council. This will take place for the first time and we welcome this intention,” said Elena Agapova, deputy chairwoman of the Russian-based Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), president of the Сommunity Center of IOPS for the protection of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa, in her interview with Russia Today.
She has noted that the joint statement of 65 countries, “In support of human rights, Christians, and other communities, particularly in the Middle East”, will be examined during the meeting. This joint statement was adopted on March 13, 2015, on the initiative of Russia, the Vatican and Lebanon, at the XXVIII session of the UN Human Rights Council.
Specifically, the document reads that recently “millions of people have been either displaced or forced to leave their native lands.” Meanwhile, those staying in conflict zones or on the territories controlled by terrorist groups, are living under a permanent threat of human rights violations, repressions and brutal treatment, the statement’s authors say.
Agapova has added that IOPS will carry on its activities in support and defense of Christianity in the Middle East. The organization is planning to be more active in collaboration with UNESCO as well as OSCE in the field of protection of world cultural heritage in the Middle East countries.
IOPS is Russia’s oldest Non-Governmental Organization that undertakes humanitarian, educational and scientific missions. It was established in 1882 by order of Emperor Alexander III. Its purpose includes promotion of pilgrimages to the Holy Land, research in Palestine as well as humanitarian cooperation with the Biblical region’s countries. Over the past year the organization dispatched to Syria alone 11 humanitarian shipments with medicaments, food, warm clothes and personal hygiene products.
