ASSYRIAN UNIVERSAL ALLIANCE

19^TH CONGRESS
MODESTO, CALIFORNIA-USA
MAY 26-30, 1994

DECLARATION

1. To endorse and support, emphatically, the United Nations and World Government position concerning the integrity of Iraq. 
2. To endorse and support a democratic secular form of government for Iraq, where the Assyrians, the indigenous people, can practice their legitimate rights and preserve their national identity, culture, heritage, language and religion. 
3. To demand that the Assyrians in their homeland of Iraq and elsewhere in the world be accorded equal rights and full citizenship. That the Assyrians also be recognized constitutionally as such recognition is granted to other sectors of the population of Iraq. 
4. To establish in Iraq and in other Middle Eastern countries, vital to Assyrians, an AUA presence for the purpose  of advancing the existing relations between the Assyrians and the local and national authorities. 
5. To conduct a demographic and feasibility study of the Assyrians in Iraq and in Diaspora. This study will help develop a new political and social plan for the Assyrians that may utilize their resources and potentials. 
6. To promote and maintain a relationship of solidarity and communication among the Assyrian polities and other social and religious groups within the Assyrian Nation world-wide. 
7. The refugee problem must be solved by the Iraq Government assuring the Assyrian citizens that they need not fear for their present and future safety and that they will have the opportunity to economically provide for themselves and their families thereby being able to remain or return home. 
8. To express strong concern for the deplorable circumstances of the thousands of Assyrian refugees stranded for years in several countries. 
9. To ensure that the innocent Assyrians who fled or were driven out of their homes and left their loved ones as well as their properties should be able to retrieve their homes and properties with due compensation. There must be special government recognition and provisions for the indigenous Assyrians and for the preservation of their historical lands and culture. 
10. To express concern about the fundamentalist movements aiming to obliterate the indigenous Assyrian Christians from their homelands. 
11. The Congress reiterates that the population of the Assyrians in Iraq as reduced by horrible actions of population transfer and persecution for several decades; therefore, we must ensure that all allocations restorations and representations for Assyrians must be made on a basis of at least of 15% of population of Iraq. 
12. To utilize the office of UNPO (Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organizations) where the AUA Secretary General is the first Vice Chairman of the Assembly, to enhance the Assyrian cause in the United Nations and with all the World Governments and their legislatures along with the other members of UNPO. 
13. To work closely with the concerned authorities to bring about a solution to the present severe economic situation of the Assyrians in Iraq where the old, the children and the sick are the most affected by the sanctions. The Congress hereby appeals to the Assyrian Churches, social and political organizations to combine their efforts with the AUA in a united action committee that will provide support through the Assyrian International Relief. 
14. The Assyrian Universal Alliance comprehends the sensitive conditions of the Assyrians in Iraq and their habitat in general. As such, the AUA wishes to be careful to avoid any disturbances to the Assyrian people in Iraq and secure for their proper conditions to maintain themselves as an intact and uninterrupted entity. 
15. To express gratitude, on behalf of the Assyrians, to those Middle Eastern Countries who have provided the Assyrians the right to elect their representative to the legislative bodies. The Congress expressed concern that the Assyrians, as Christians, and as citizens, in many Middle East Countries do not enjoy the same rights as the majority, to openly practice, as equals, their religion, culture, heritage and engage in business without segregation, or be employed without discrimination. 
    The Congress concludes that the patience of the Assyrians and their dedication to their national goals, their support of the efforts of the Assyrian Universal Alliance are a big impetus for the AUA to proceed with care and caution in the service of the Assyrian people. 
    Let the spirit of the Assyrian Universal Alliance 19^th World-wide Congress arouse within ourselves a strong desire to proceed towards a new frontier for the Assyrians of the world that we resolve to serve by God’s grace.