The Czech government said on December 14 that it has decided to accept 37 Iraqi Christian families that are fleeing Islamic State militants in Iraq.
Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka described the families as “member of the Christian minority who found themselves in a very difficult situation following the Islamic State aggression in Iraq and asked the Czech Republic for help.”
Sobotka said a total of 153 refugees from the families would arrive in four groups between January and April.
He said they are currently based in Iraq’s Kurdistan region and in Lebanon.
Aside from several dozen refugees who have followed formal asylum procedures, they will be the first refugees from Iraq who have been accepted by Prague.
Last week, a group of 149 Assyrian Christians from Iraq arrived in neighboring Slovakia after being offered aid by the government in Bratislava.
