- Target:
- Speaker of the House of Commons; Prime Minister Steven Harper, Bob Rae, Jim Karygiannis, Tom Mulcair
- Region:
- Iraq
Canadian Parliament passed a motion on 16 March 2010 recognizing atrocities took place in the Kurdish city of Halabja on 16 March 1988 with Iraqi planes used poison gas to kill thousands of Iraqi Kurds; as crimes against humanity as the first nation in the World recognizing the suffering of Kurds in Iraq.
"On 16 March 2013 when we will remember these atrocities on the 25th anniversary; a new motion will be submitted to the Canadian Parliament asking for the recognition of this event and the Anfal campaign as genocide against Kurds of Iraq. Canadian Parliament's approval of a motion which recognize these atrocities as genocide will give hope to humanity that the justice will prevail."
We urge the Canadian Government to recognize formally the Genocide against the people of Iraqi Kurdistan and to encourage the USA and UN to do likewise.
The Kurds have been subjected to the deliberate and systematic destruction in their homeland including in Iraq. The Genocide perpetrated over decades, known collectively as the Anfal, began with the arabisation policies in Kirkuk in 1963. It involved the deportation and disappearances of Faylee Kurds in the 1970s-80s, the murder of 8,000 male Barzanis in 1983, the use of chemical weapons in the late 1980s, most notably against people of Halabja, and finally the Anfal campaign of 1987-88. As a result of the crime against the Kurdish people in Iraq, hundreds of thousands of innocent people displaced, tortured, raped, and killed systematically. The recognition of the genocide against the Kurdish people is very important for the families of victims and the survivors who seek justice for their lost loved ones.
We believe that the recognition of the genocide by the Canadian Government will be an important step to break the silence over one of humanity's tragedies, also known as “Kurdish Hiroshima". It would also enable Canada to re-emphasize its long standing tradition for promoting Human Rights and democracy and sending a clear message in support of international conventions and human rights.
We also firmly believe that acknowledging genocide itself is a fundamental means of struggling against genocide. The acknowledgement is itself an affirmation of the right of a people under international law to a safeguarded existence. The international recognition of genocide against the Kurdish people will also make possible to prosecute those individuals and companies inside and outside Iraq who were responsible for the genocide or who supplied Saddam’s regime with weapons and chemicals.
Very truly yours!
Undersigned
Kurdish League against Genocide,
Toronto Kurdish Community and Information Center,
Toronto Kurdish Women Committee,
Toronto Kurdish Youth Committee,
University of Toronto Student Association,
York University Kurdish Student Association,
Kurdish House of Greater Toronto,
Montreal Kurdish Community Center,
Ottawa Kurdish Committee,
Alberta Kurdish Association,
Edmonton Kurdish Committee,
Vancouver Kurdish Committee,
Kurdish Student Committee of South Western Ontario University
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The Recognition of Genocide against the Kurds in Iraq petition to Speaker of the House of Commons; Prime Minister Steven Harper, Bob Rae, Jim Karygiannis, Tom Mulcair was written by Xizir and is in the category Justice at GoPetition.