Washington, DC - This Administration has made the protection of Iraq’s diversity of faiths and its threatened religious minorities a top and unceasing priority. Those who survived genocide, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities, as well as those who perished as a result of these acts, deserve nothing less.

In October, President Trump directed the United States Government to provide innovative and more direct aid to communities in the Nineveh Plains and western Nineveh in Iraq.

While progress has been made, more must and will be done. Our commitment to these vulnerable communities is steadfast.

All available U.S. resources are committed to implementing the Administration’s vision for the protection of these threatened people, and to ensuring the help we promised arrives before it is too late.

Underscoring this effort, at the Vice President’s direction, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Mark Green will travel to Iraq in the coming weeks to identify methods to better facilitate aid to these vulnerable people. The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and Consulate in Erbil look forward to working with Administrator Green.

The State Department will continue to work with USAID and others to help protect minorities and other vulnerable communities around the world.