Baghdad: Christian woman Professor Ivan Faii has been appointed as the new head of the Iraqi Ministry of Refugees and Resettlement. The Chaldean church member, Ivan Fai, has taken on new responsibilities with years of experience working among the youth, a group that is not usually regarded by the major political parties in the country. The new Iraqi government headed by Mustafa al-Qatimi on Saturday, June 6, was approved by a parliamentary vote on seven ministerial appointments.
Al Qatimi, the director of Iraq’s intelligence agency, was elected prime minister on May 7. Meanwhile, big responsibilities await Ivan Faik. Many Christians who fled Mosul and Nineveh in fear of Islamic State militants in 2014 have sought refuge in the city of Irbil and in Iraqi Kurdistan. The new Minister of Rehabilitation will have a duty to rehabilitate them adequately.
Ivan Fai has also served on the Mosul Governor’s Advisory Council on Minorities. In the May 2018 election, Professor Ivan Faik won one of five seats reserved for the Christian minority. Meanwhile, the Patriarch’s Office has dismissed the claim that Professor Ivan is acting in the advisory position of Louis Rafael Sacco, Patriarch of the Chaldean Church for Christians in Nineveh Province.
