Christian religious and political leaders in Iraq have urged Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi to guarantee genuine political partnership for the community, enforce state authority, improve security, and support the return of families displaced from their areas in recent years.
The demands came weeks after Al-Zaidi took office on 14 May, when Iraq's parliament approved his government programme and part of his cabinet following months of post-election negotiations. Iraq held parliamentary elections on 11 November 2025, but coalition wrangling delayed the formation of a new government until the Shia Coordination Framework nominated Al-Zaidi as its prime ministerial candidate in late April.
The calls reflect growing concern among influential Christian figures who say the community's future depends on the state's ability to impose the rule of law, protect citizens, and curb the influence of armed groups operating outside official institutions. Iraq's Christian population has fallen sharply over the past two decades, from around 1.5 million before the 2003 US-led invasion to fewer than 200,000 today, according to commonly cited church and advocacy estimates. Community leaders say the decline has been driven by war, displacement, insecurity, economic pressure, and the continuing weakness of state protection in historically Christian areas.
Mar Paulus III Nona, Patriarch of the Chaldean Church in Iraq and the world, said Iraq's Christians had been "deeply affected by terrorism, wars and the displacement the country has witnessed".
In press remarks on Sunday, he expressed hope that conditions would improve and that trust in the land and its people would be restored, allowing all communities to live together normally.
"The coming phase should witness reverse migration, and the return of families to their original areas after the proper conditions for life and stability are provided," he said.
He added that "peace, coexistence, respect for human dignity and the guarantee of the legitimate rights of all components are basic pillars for building a sound and stable society".
" Iraq will be on the right path once these principles are consolidated and genuinely acted upon," he said.
In a message outlining the community's main demands, Ano Jawhar Abdoka, Secretary-General of the Christian Alliance in Iraq, called on Al-Zaidi to "take decisive steps to save the Christian component from the encroachment of militias and corrupt economic offices".
He also urged the government to establish a "genuine national partnership that guarantees the rights of Christians as indigenous people of Mesopotamia".
Speaking two days ago at the 33rd General Assembly of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, Abdoka said Christians were looking to the new government for a period of stability.
He called for an end to interference by armed factions and economic offices, which he said had helped "suffocate" the Christian presence, particularly in the Nineveh Plains and Mosul.
Abdoka also urged reforms to Christian political representation, including limiting voting for Christian quota seats to members of the Christian community.
He said this would help ensure that elected representatives reflect the will of Christian voters, rather than external political influence.
Christians, he added, hoped the new phase would provide an opportunity to restore trust and reinforce the principles of a state that protects all its communities and guarantees their constitutional rights fairly and equally.
Youssef Yaqo, a Christian politician from the Nineveh Plains, said the community’s current demands were "not about special privileges so much as they are about guaranteeing basic constitutional rights related to political presence, rights guarantees and protection".
"Members of the community want to feel safe and stable, and to remove the causes that pushed thousands of families to migrate in recent years," he told The New Arab .
Yaqo said successive governments had failed to provide adequate protection for Christian areas, address the seizure of property and land, or create economic and social conditions that would encourage displaced families to return.
He called on Al-Zaidi's government to treat these issues "as part of the state-building project, not merely as an issue concerning one component in particular".
Christian activist Bashir Yaqoub said fears persisted among many families because of the continued influence of armed groups and weak law enforcement in some areas.
"Years of violence and displacement have weakened the demographic presence of Christians," he told The New Arab .
He said the government now needed to take practical steps to restore trust in the state and strengthen Christian political participation.
Christian communities, particularly in Nineveh province, were displaced in large numbers after the Islamic State group overran wide parts of Iraq in the summer of 2014, forcing thousands of families to flee to the Kurdistan Region or leave the country altogether.
Although IS has since been defeated and those areas recaptured, major challenges remain. These include reconstruction, the restoration of property, addressing encroachments by political parties and armed factions on Christian-owned land and real estate, and providing protection and basic services. Christian leaders say these issues will be decisive in determining whether displaced families feel able to return.