In the wake of the recent displacement of thousands of Assyrian families from their homes in Al-Hasakah, Syria, the American Mesopotamian Organization (AMO) in coordination with members of the Middle East Christian or MECHRIC are renewing their call of March 18th and March 30th , 2015, to the United Nations and the civilized world to immediately establish interim protected zones in order to halt the continued ethnic cleansing of ethno-religious minorities in the region by ISIS. (1) "Although we appreciated the efforts of the Republic of France for calling an emergency session of the Security council last March to discuss the ongoing ethnic cleansing of Assyrian Christians, Yezidis and other ethno-religious minorities of Iraq and Syria, no action has yet been taken to halt this ongoing slaughter. It is as if the world community thinks that the situation will resolve itself if it's ignored," said Mr. David William Lazar, Chairman of the AMO. "MECHRIC members had submitted to the UN Security Council a five point plan of action to protect Assyrians, Yezidis and other embattled minorities in Iraq and Syria," noted Mr. Lazar and these steps included the following:

1. The swift establishment of interim safe-zones in the Nineveh Plain of Iraq, the Sinjar region of Iraq and the Al-Hasakah province in Syria.
2. The immediate training, equipping and financially supporting of independent indigenous security forces such as the Gozarto Protection Forces (GPF) in North East Syria and the Nineveh plain Protection Units (NPU) in Northern Iraq.
3. The deployment of these independent indigenous forces into areas under threat from ISIS as well as to the frontlines in the fight against ISIS.
4. Support of fighting strength and operational capabilities of these indigenous forces through aggressive use of airpower and supportive coordinated intelligence.
5. The deployment of UN peacekeepers to the Nineveh Plain, the Sinjar region in Iraq and the Al-Hasakah province in Syria, following ISIS' eventual defeat, to provide the necessary stability and security for the ethno-religious minorities living in those areas.

"We're renewing our call," said Mr. Lazar, " for the International community to come together and stop this continuing genocide against the Christians and Yezidis of Iraq and Syria. We are demanding that the world protects them just like it had previously protected the Muslim Kurds of Northern Iraq, the European Muslims of Bosnia and Kosovo, the Christians of East Timor and the people of Southern Sudan."

MECHRIC is a federation of Middle East Christian NGOs and organizations founded in 1981 in Beirut works globally to defend the rights of marginalized nationalities and identities in the region of the Middle East. MECHRIC members include the Assyrian American National Federation, the American Mesopotamian Organization (AMO), the Council of Syriac Organizations, the Chaldean Syriac Assyrian Popular Council, Coptic Solidarity International, the Yezidi Human Rights Organization International, the Melkite Committee and the American Maronite Union. MECHRIC can be contacted at MECHRIC . The American Mesopotamian Organization believes that the Assyrian American community can be instrumental in bringing about change to US policy towards the Assyrians of the Middle East. We strive to be part of this change and part of the solution in defending Assyrian political and human rights throughout the Near East. While we will represent the collective Assyrian American viewpoint on matters of public policy, we will also serve as liaison between the community and their elected leaders. For more information, please visit American Mesopotamian Organization.