Letter to the editor. Recognize Saddam Hussein’s poison gas against Kurds as genocide
On March 16, 1988, the city of Halabja was surprised in Iraq by a horrific act. With poison gas, Saddam Hussein’s regime attacked the city from above, gas that quickly filled the lungs in children, mothers, fathers and the elderly. In just a few hours, over 5,000 Kurds died in the attack, which can be described as one of history’s most brutal.
It was not about a war between nations, but about a systematic and planned annihilation of the Kurdish population in 1986 and 1989. In its entirety it is called it for Anfal campaign and the tragedy in Halabja is only part of it.
In total, over 180,000 Kurds disappeared during these years in mass graves, executions, chemical warfare or on the run. But despite the extensive death rates, the testimonies, the evidence and a recognition from Iraq’s courts, Halabja and Anfal are not recognized as a genocide worldwide.
Sweden and the EU Often claiming that they defend human rights and condemn historical genocide such as the Holocaust, Rwanda genocide and the massacre in Srebrenica. But when it comes to Halabja and Anfal, Kurds are met by a compact silence.
There are several explanations:
● Geopolitics. During the 1980s, Saddam Hussein was seen by the Western world as a strategic alliance partner in the war against Iran. Companies from Sweden, Germany and France, to name a few, sold the chemicals that enabled the gas attacks.
● Economy. Iraq has great wealth from the oil and many countries have rather chosen to prioritize their business relationships than stand up for justice.
● Fegeness. An official recognition of the genocide would force the Western world to recognize its indirect responsibility for it could happen.
By closing your eyes For history, Sweden and Europe become part of the problem. Motions in the Swedish Parliament has been presented about recognizing Anfal as genocide, but they have been voted down or been ignored.
Sweden has also received Kurdish refugees, but refuses to officially recognize the genocide that forced them to flee. Silence is a crime.
We demand therefore:
1. A immediate recognition of Anfal and Halabja as genocide, just as with other genocide worldwide.
2. An official statement from the Swedish government and the EU about the role of the Western world played to enable Saddam Hussein’s war crime.
3. An initiative in the UN to get more countries to recognize the genocide and to answer responsible companies and actors.
Kurds worldwide Gather every year to remember those who died in the massacres. But memory days are not enough.
We Kurds require recognition. It is not a symbolic gesture – but a necessity for justice.
More about submitter: How do you write on submitter and answer
More submissions: dn.se/insandare
