Acero Advocate

Middle-East Outreach with Nadia Cavner

Ten years ago, the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a campaign of mass atrocities to achieve the religious and ethnic cleansing of Yazidis, Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriac Christians, Shi’a and Sunni Muslim Turkmens, Shabaks, and other religious minorities in Iraq and Syria. In 2016, the U.S. State Department determined ISIS’s atrocities against Yazidis, Christians, and Shi’a Muslims constituted crimes against humanity and genocide. In 2019, an international coalition defeated ISIS’s last territorial hold in Iraq and Syria. However, ten years on, survivors face multiple threats to their religious freedom, security, and existence within their homelands.

Jamileh Naso, President, Canadian Yazidi Association; Nadia Cavner, Philanthropist and Advocate for Assyrians; and Dr. Ali Akram Albayati, Co-Founder, Turkmen Rescue Foundation join USCIRF Senior Policy Analyst Susan Bishai to discuss religious minorities’ ongoing struggles to rebuild in the region.

  • Refugees Return to Deir ez-Zor Region from Lebanon and Turkey

    Refugees Return to Deir ez-Zor Region from Lebanon and Turkey

    For Nadia Cavner, the peace and security of the Assyrian people in the Middle East is one of her most important endeavors. This week, heartening news was shared about the Syrian Refugees who have been living in Turkey and Lebanon. According to Ghassan al-Youssef, the co-chair of the Deir ez-Zor Civil Council, Syrian refugees living…

  • Little-talked-about Ethnic Cleansing is Happening in Middle East

    Little-talked-about Ethnic Cleansing is Happening in Middle East

    For Nadia Cavner, a long-time philanthropist and activist, the Middle East is a region close to her heart, and the freedom of the persecuted people who live there remains the primary focus of her work.  This topic does not receive much attention in U.S. news, but there is an ethnic cleansing happening in Northern Iraq…

  • 5 Years After ISIS Invasion of the Khabour Region, Assyrian People Still Endure Attacks

    5 Years After ISIS Invasion of the Khabour Region, Assyrian People Still Endure Attacks

    Early in the morning on February 23, 2015, while the sun was still below the horizon, ISIS fighters tore through villages and towns along the Khabour River, launching violent attacks on the Assyrian people who lived there. Burning homes, community centers, and kidnapping over 250 people, the terrorists all but destroyed these communities. In the…

  • Four Ways to Help Syrian Refugees

    Four Ways to Help Syrian Refugees

    A long-time philanthropist and activist,, Nadia Cavner engages in a variety of meaningful local, national, and international philanthropic endeavors. Issues affecting people in the Middle East are of particular concern for Nadia Cavner, including the refugee crisis resulting from the ongoing Syrian civil war. Syrian refugees represent the world’s largest refugee population, which stands at over 5.6…

The Assyrian Church of the East Relief Organization (ACERO)

ACERO is the international aid agency of the Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East. They serve as a lifeline for Assyrians facing hardship throughout the Middle East and beyond, and they are passionately supported by church members and allies across the world. Nadia’s fierce and unrelenting support of ACERO and their much-needed work continues to make an impact in the lives of thousands of people every year.

For centuries, Assyrians have called this region home. However, ongoing conflicts and persecution have forced many to flee their homes, live as refugees, or face desperate poverty. ACERO steps in to provide essential aid, ensuring families have access to food, water, shelter, medical care, and education.

Nadia Cavner

Advocate & Activist