Professors Marshall Breger and Robert Destro hosted a delegation of Christian leaders from the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq on Thursday, September 26. The Christian leaders discussed the current political situation in Kurdistan and the tension between the Kurdish autonomous region and the central government. They discussed as well the devastating impact of the ISIS genocide on the ancient Christan communities of the region, and the ongoing religious freedom issues in Kurdistan, Iraq and the Levant generally.

Breger and Destro have had a long association with issues related to Iraq and Kurdistan, particularly the problems facing minority religious communities, including Christians and Yezidis. On numerous occasions, the law school hosted the Chaldean Bishop of Erbil, Bashar Warda, and the late Chaldean Bishop of Dohuk, Rabban al-Qas, to discuss collaboration between The Catholic University of America and the Catholic University of Erbil.

“Americans have no idea how old these Christian communities are”, said Destro, “they go back to the travels of St. Thomas on his way to India. We need to stay engaged.” In December 2012, Breger and Destro organized an international conference on “The Status of the Christian communities in Iraq Kudistan; Challenges & Opportunities”. It included scholars from the United States, Germany, the Netherlands and Kurdistan. That conference showcased the first, large-scale demographic study of the Christians in Kurdistan, which was conducted by Dr. Carole O’Leary under the auspices of the Catholic Law & Religion Program. “One cannot possibly protect these communities without knowing both their locations and their numbers,” said Destro. “These communities have been destroyed.”

Breger pointed out that “our efforts have not been limited to Christians. Like the Christians today, the once-sizeable Jewish community of Iraq is largely gone.” In 2013, the Law School hosted the official Kurdish commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the chemical gas attacks in Halabja and the Kurdish genocide.

Breger has taught courses in International Religious Liberty, Public International Law and National Security Law. He served as Alternate Representative of the United States to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 1988-90. In addition to his regular teaching in Conflict of Laws and Remedies, Destro is developing a Human Rights Practicum designed to give students interested in human rights practice “hands-on” experience working on actual human rights cases here in the United States and abroad. “The course builds on my experience as Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor,’ said Destro, who is an international leader in the effort to protect Christian and other minority religious groups in Africa and the Middle East.