An Appeal to Indict the Iraqi Regime for Crimes of Genocide
AN APPEAL TO THE UNITED NATIONS TO INDICT THE HIGHER ECHELONS OF THE IRAQI
REGIME FOR CRIMES OF GENOCIDE COMMITTED AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF IRAQI-KURDISTAN
His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, New York.
Members of the Security Council:
Ambassador Juan Somavia (Chile)
Ambassador Qin Huasun (China)
Ambassador Fernando Berrocal Soto (Costa Rica)
Ambassador Dr Nabil A. Elaraby (Egypt)
Ambassador Alain Dejammet (France)
Ambassador Alfredo Lopes Cabral (Guinea-Bissau)
Ambassador Hishashi Owada (Japan)
Ambassador Njuguna M. Maahugu (Kenya)
Ambassador Dr. Z. Bigniew M. Wlosowicz (Poland)
Ambassador Pedro Catarino (Portugal)
Ambassador Park Soo Gil (Republic of Korea)
Ambassador Sergey V. lavrov (Russia)
Ambassador Peter Osvaald (Sweden)
Ambassador Sir John Weston (United Kingdom)
Ambassador Bill Richardson (USA)
The Iraqi regime has perpetrated many crimes against the people of
Iraqi Kurdistan, most of them are considered as crimes of genocide
as defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of
the Crime of Genocide of 9th December, 1948 which was approved
by Iraq on 20th January, 1959. Some examples of the criminal acts
committed by the Iraqi regime against the Kurdish people during
the last three decades are the destruction of the Kurdish villages
and the policy of ethnic cleansing, by the mass deportation of the
Kurds and the settlement of Arab tribes in their place, public
execution, mass murder, internment, the confiscation of property,
torture, rape, large-scale disappearances, the systematic humiliation
and demoralisation of individuals and groups of people and the use
of chemical weapons against the civilian population.
This programme of destruction has been condemned by the
international organisations concerned with human rights and
especially those which have conducted research into the documents
found in the Security Service and Intelligence departments in
Kurdistan, after the uprising of March 1991. Several tons of these
documents are in the library of the U.S. Congress in Washington.
The Security Council has already condemned the inhuman politics
of the Iraqi regime in its Resolution No. 688 of 5th April 1991. The
General Assembly of the U.N. has also passed many resolutions
concerning the situation of human rights in Iraq, in particular
Resolution No. 46/134, of 17th December 1991, Resolution No.
47/145 of 18th December 1992, Resolution No. 48/144 of 20th
December 1993 and Resolution No. 49/203 of 23rd December
1994.
The U.N. Commission on Human Rights has also passed
resolutions concerning the situation of human rights in Iraq:
1. E/CN. 1991/74, 6th March 1991.
2. E/CN. 1992/71, 5th March 1992.
3. E/CN. 1993/74. 10th March 1993.
4. E/CN. 4/1994/74, 9th March 1994.
5. E/CN. 4/1997/60, 9th March 1997.
The Sub-Commission for the Prevention of Discrimination and the
Protection of Minorities also passed the following resolutions on
the situation of human rights in Iraq:
1. E/CN. 4/1994/2, E/CN. 4/Sub. 2/1993/520, 20th August 1994.
2. E/CN. 4/1995/2, E/CN. 4/Sub. 2/1994/56, 25th August 1994.
Max van der Stoel, the special reporter for the Commission on
Human Rights of the U.N. has submitted many reports which also
condemn the Iraqi regime:
1. E/CN. 4/1992/31, 18th February 1992.
2. E/CN. 4/1993/45. 15th February 1993.
3. E/CN. 4/1994/58, 25th February 1994.
4. E/CN. 4/1995/56, 15th February 1995.
5. E/CN. 4/1997/57, 18th February 1997.
We can give here some examples of the criminal acts committed by
the Iraqi regime which constitute genocide according to the
international conventions:
A. The destruction of thousands of villages and small cities and the
murder of their inhabitants.
The Iraqi regime began the destruction of the villages close to the
Iranian border at the beginning of 1975, and followed this with the
destruction of the villages near the Turkish border, and then those
on the plains of Kurdistan which are far from the international
border. The inhabitants of these villages and small towns were
forced into concentration camps situated near the large cities or
main roads. They were built especially for them and lacked even the
barest necessities and facilities for basic living. These
concentration camps were similar to those built by the Nazis during
the Second World War which were administered by the Secret
Services.
Those rural areas of Iraqi Kurdistan which were destroyed,
represented more than 80% of the Kurdish agricultural land which
supplied most of Iraq with food. The area was converted into a
military zone "prohibited for security reasons". This operation was
at its height during the years of the Anfal campaign. "Anfal" was
the code-name given to the regime's policy of eliminating the Kurds
and it was carried out in three stages during 1987 and 1988. The
legal framework for the Anfal campaign was established in a
decree, signed by Saddam Hussein, dated March 29th, 1987, in the
name of the Revolutionary Command Council, which is the highest
legislative and executive authority in Iraq and is composed of all
the most powerful figures of the regime. This decree gave, to Ali
Hassan Al-Majid, the cousin of the Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein, absolute power over all civilian, military and security
institutions and the authority to use chemical weapons. The aim of
the Anfal campaign was to force the inhabitants of most Kurdish
villages in the Governorates of Kirkuk, Sulaimania, Arbil, Duhok
and the Kurdish districts in the Governorate of Mosul and Dyala to
leave their villages and surrender themselves to the military or
Secret Service. Orders were given to clear the area completely. To
this end, any person encountered by the forces was to be
immediately executed and any who surrendered were to be handed
over to the Security Services. Some of the villagers managed to
escape to the borders, but most were obliged to surrender. They
were later taken to the desert in the south of Iraq where they were
killed by machine-gun and buried alive. The number killed in the
three Anfal operations is put at 182,000 Kurds. In May 1991, when
asked by a Kurdish delegate to the peace negations in Baghdad, Ali
Hassan Al-Majid nervously said, " it couldn't have been more than
100,000"!
These Anfal operations and other previous operations from the mid-
1970s resulted in the destruction of 3,839 Kurdish villages,
including many Assyrian christian villages. There were, in these
destroyed villages, 1757 primary schools and 2457 mosques, many
old monasteries and churches and 271 clinics. 219,828 Kurdish and
Assyrian families were deported and, in rural Kurdish society, a
"family" would include at least five people. The magnitude of this
destruction clearly demonstrates the intention of the Iraqi regime to
destroy totally the Kurdish entity.
(B) The policy of ethnic cleansing by the Arabization of some
regions of Kurdistan.
The Iraqi regime began its policy of ethnic cleansing in the
Governorate of Kirkuk when the Ba'athist regime came to power in
February 1963. This policy began in the Kirkuk region because of
its oil fields and rich farm lands. It became the policy of each
succeeding government and has been extended to include the region
of Kanakeen (in Dyala Governorate) and Makhmur (in Arbil
Governorate) and the Kurdish districts (in Mosul Governorate). It
was carried out in a two-fold process, each stage complementing
the other.
In the first phase of this process the Kurds were forced to move out
of these areas. The second phase was accomplished by bringing
thousands of Arab families from central and southern Iraq and
settling them in these areas. They were provided with housing and
were employed in various installations or in the repressive
government machine, such as the military, the intelligence, the
security service, the Ba'ath party organisation and the "Popular
Army", etc..
Here are some examples of the policy as implemented in the Kirkuk
Governorate:
1. The destruction of 13 Kurdish villages near the city of Kirkuk in
mid-1963, in particular those near the oil fields.
2. The expulsion of all the Kurds living in 34 Kurdish villages
which were under the jurisdiction of the sub-district of Dubz - now
Arabized to Al-Dibiss - and the resettling of those villages with
Arab tribes.
3. Changing the name of the Kirkuk Governorate to the Arabic "Al-
T'ameem" (meaning nationalisation), with the aim of obliterating
the name it had held throughout a thousand years of history. At the
same time the regime changed the names of the Kurdish quarters,
streets and schools to Arabic names and forced the owners of
commercial establishments to change the names to Arabic.
4. Between 1970 and 1990, 732 Kurdish villages with their 493
schools, 598 mosques and 40 clinics were destroyed in this
Governorate. 37,726 Kurdish families were deported.
5. The city and the surrounding area was converted into a large
military camp and fortification. Its historic castle was turned into a
military fort.
6. A major step in the process of the Arabization of Kirkuk was the
settling of tens of thousands of Arab families, in successive waves,
with guaranteed housing and jobs. Parallel to this, the regime
announced the grant of a monetary gift or bonus to any Kurd who
would leave Kirkuk, in addition to securing housing for him in
southern or central Iraq. During this time more than ten new
quarters were built in the city for "new Arab settlers". Many new
quarters with Arab names were built for these new settlers.
7. All low-ranking civil servants, including Kurdish elementary and
secondary school teachers, as well as workers in various
government departments and in the oil company facilities, were
transferred to areas outside the Kirkuk Governorate and replaced
with Arab civil servants and workers.
8. The Kurds were forbidden to sell their homes and properties
except to Arabs and were prevented from buying homes and
property under any circumstances. The city administration refused
to grant any "building permit" or "permit to renovate" to Kurds even
if their homes were badly in need of renovation, in order to force
them to sell their homes or to abandon them and move out of the
city. From the early eighties, this policy was applied to the
Turkman minority also.
9. Four out of the seven districts of the Governorate of Kirkuk were
detached from it and attached to the neighbouring Governorates, in
order to make the Kurds a minority in the Kirkuk Governorate.
Today, tens of thousands of Kurdish families from Kirkuk live in
tents and camps in the region controlled by the Kurds in extremely
harsh conditions, resulting in the deaths of many, especially among
the children and the elderly. For the most part, they depend for
their survival on assistance from relief organisations and
international aid.
This same policy of deportation continues to this day. In May and
June 1997, more than 3000 Kurds were deported from the city of
Kirkuk and its environs in preparation for a government census in
October 1997. The names of most of these people are in our
possession.
In other parts of Iraqi Kurdistan still under the control of the Iraqi
regime, the same policy was enforced. Kurds in all these areas were
forced to register themselves as Arabs, under the threat of
expulsion from these areas if they failed to do so by the time of the
Census.
The expelled Kurds wish to return to their homelands in their cities
and villages under the protection of the United Nations.
C- The deportation of tens of thousands of Kurdish Shi'ite families
to Iran.
In 1971 the regime designated many groups, mainly Shi'ite Kurds
living in Baghdad and other cities in central Iraq, as Iranian and
deported them to Iran. This operation increased during the Iran-Iraq
war of 1980 to 1988. All their personal belongings were
confiscated, including their Iraqi nationality papers and passports.
Most of these people and many of their parents and grandparents
were born in Iraq before the creation of the state of Iraq in 1921.
Many of them had completed their national service in Iraq.
According to figures supplied by the Red Cross, they numbered
about 400,000. They were deported in a most inhuman way. Taken
by the Security Services to the Iranian border, they were forced to
walk many miles in the cold weather, without food, during the war
between Iraq and Iran. Their journey took several days and some
were killed in the crossfire between the warring factions or by land-
mines. In addition to children and old people there were, among
them, pregnant women and physically and mentally disabled
people.
The Iraqi authorities incarcerated more than 4,000 young people
from among these deportees and, to this day, their families have no
knowledge of their whereabouts as the Iraqi authorities did not give
their names to the Red Cross or to any other organisation. Their
families desperately wish to know what has happened to their
children.
Some of these deportees now live in Europe and elsewhere as
refugees, but most remain in Iran, living in abject poverty and
considered neither as refugees in Iran nor as Iranian but as "Iraqi"!
These people also wish to return to the land of their birth and to be
compensated for their loss.
D. The use of chemical weapons on the Kurdish city of Halabja.
On 17th March, 1988, the city of Halabja, originally with a
population of 70,000, was bombarded with cyanide, mustard gas
and nerve gas by Iraqi military aircraft. The result was the death of
more than 5000 civilians, mostly women, children and the elderly.
About 10,000 more were injured and the bombardment devastated
the entire area. No life remained. This was the first time in history
that a government had used chemical weapons against its own
civilian citizens.
In reality, the city of Halabja was not the only place on which
chemical weapons were used by the Iraqi regime. Before this
incident, many beautiful Kurdish villages in the sub-district of
Aghjalar in Kirkuk Governorate, in the sub-district of Karadagh in
Sulaimania Governorate, the valley of Balissan in Arbil
Governorate and other villages in Duhok Governorate were also
attacked. But the attack on a large city such as Halabja, under the
direct orders of Saddam Hussein and without condemnation by the
international community, encouraged the further use of chemical
weapons in the mid-1990s against the marsh Arabs of southern
Iraq.
In this criminal way the regime continued to kill hundreds of
Kurdish Peshmerga (fighters), on many occasions when there was a
general amnesty in force and they had surrendered their weapons.
Hundreds of other young Kurds were tortured to death or killed
after appearing before a formal tribunal. Some of them were
children under fifteen years of age. After the uprising of March
1991, many mass graves were discovered near the cities of Arbil
and Sulaimania where the corpses of whole family groups,
including children, were found.
We consider these crimes to be genocide, committed deliberately
by the Iraqi regime throughout three decades, in an attempt to
eliminate more than four million Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan.
It was not only the Kurds who suffered at the hands of the regime.
A great many Iraqis were subjected to a campaign of torture and
mass execution, especially following the uprising of March 1991 in
the Shi'ite cities and marshes of southern Iraq. During the Iran-Iraq
war 1980-1988, chemical weapons were used extensively against
Iranian military targets, and Iranian cities were regularly bombarded
with artillery, aircraft and ballistic missiles not aimed at specific
military targets. Later, on August 2, 1990, the Iraqi army invaded
Kuwait in direct violation of Article 2 (4) of the United Nations
Charter. The regime's obvious intention was the destruction of the
sovereignty of the Kuwaiti state.
The perpetrators of all these crimes must be punished by the
international community as were those of Nazi Germany, the former
Yugoslavia, Rwanda, etc..
We appeal to the Security Council to create an international
tribunal, or to extend the competence of the existing War Crimes
Tribunal in the Hague, to bring the "higher echelons" of the Iraqi
regime to justice.
1. The National Union of Teachers in Kurdistan.
2. The Farmworkers Union of Kurdistan.
3. The Artists Union of Kurdistan.
4. The Photographers Union of Kurdistan.
5. The Union of Agricultural Workers of Kurdistan.
6. The General Workers Union of Kurdistan.
7. The Engineering Union of Kurdistan.
8. The Association of the Clergy in Kurdistan.
9. The Association of Lawyers in Kurdistan.
10. The Association of Economists in Kurdistan.
11. The Association of Technical Engineers.
12. The Students' Union of Kurdistan.
13. The Association of Sociologists in Kurdistan.
14. The Association of War Veterans.
15. The Association of Cultural Workers.
16. The Organisation for Child Welfare in Kurdistan.
17. The Organisation for Graduates in Law in Kurdistan.
18. The Union of Veterinary Surgeons.
19. The Union of Doctors of Medicine.
20. The Union of Chemists and Pharmacists.
21. The Centre for the Care and Protection of Orphans.
22. The Christian Centre of Kurdistan.
23. The Association of Retired Workers.
24. The Union of Geologists.
25. The Union of Nurses and Ancillary Staff.
26. The Civil Service Union.
27. The Union of Working Women.
28. The Union of `Women Social Democrats in Kurdistan.
29. The Women's' Union of Kurdistan.
30. The Kurdistan Islamic Sisters Union.
31. The Salah Hawramy's Cultural Centre in Kurdistan.
32. The Democratic Youth Union in Kurdistan.
33. The Kurdistan Socialist Democracy Student and Youth Union.
34. The Union of Students of Zahmatkeshan of Kurdistan.
35. The Union of Women of Zahmatkeshan of Kurdistan.
36. The Social and Cultural Association of the Governorate of Kirkuk.
37. Ezidi's Centre Abroad.
38. The Labour Party for Independent Kurdistan - European Section.
39. The Kurdish Human Rights Organisation - Sweden.
40. SKKMR - Sweden.
41. The Islamic Union of Kurdistan - British Section.
42. The Kurdish Information Centre - London.
43. The Lawyers Committee for Human Rights`- New York.
44. The Kurdish Organisation for Human Rights - U.K.
Kurdish Organisation for Human Rights - UK
London, September 18, 1997
|