Kurdistan Regional Government
Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs
20 November 2008

An open letter to:
The Parliament and Government of the Netherlands
The Iraqi Federal Government

The Ba’ath Government used every violent, illegal and military means at their disposal against all components of Iraqi society. This included all ethnic, religious and sectarian groups. The regime oppressed and harmed Iraqi people through its tyrannical policies. Few escaped this tyranny and the regime’s brutal actions. The Kurdish people, one of the principle components of the country’s population, faced oppression, persecution and annihilation more than any other group in Iraq.

The crimes of mass killings carried out by the Ba’ath regime in 1979, 1980, 1983, 1987 and 1988 amounted to genocide. The annihilation of the Fayli Kurds, of the Barzanis, the chemical gassing of Halabja, and the eight stages of the Anfal operations from the areas of Germian to Badinan are explicit evidence of the regime’s actions. 4,500 villages in Kurdistan were destroyed and more than 200,000 Kurdish people were victims of this policy.

Although news of these crimes reached the international community through the media, political interests prevented international actors from denouncing the Ba’ath government.

The world remained silent. The international community did not take a position regarding the Ba’ath regime’s crimes committed against the Iraqi people, and in particular the Kurdish population. Beyond that, some supported the regime by selling it various kinds of heavy weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, thereby increasingly supporting the Ba’ath party militarily. Heavy weapons and chemical weapons were sold by various countries and companies as a commercial commodity, but the regime used them to suppress and annihilate innocent people.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime, with the support of the multinational forces in 2003, a special independent court was formed to try those in the former regime who directly and indirectly participated in perpetrating the mass killings in Iraq.

The chemical gassing of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq was a crime committed by the Ba’ath government against the Kurdish people. The chemical gassing of Halabja on 16th March 1988, in which over 5,000 people - men, women, children, young and old - were killed, is considered to be among the fiercest and most barbaric crimes against humanity committed since World War II.

Beyond Halabja, the Ba’ath regime used chemical bombs in many other areas of Kurdistan:

Chemical attacks in 1987

15 April: Haladan, Bargalu, Kani-Tu, Aawazhe, Sirwan, Nolchka and Chnar villages.

16 April: Sheikh Wasanan village.

17 April: Qzlar, Singer and Mewalaka villages.

19 - 20 April: the Balisan valley villages.

21 April: Qaradakh area.

1 May: Zewe and Duhok villages.

23 May: Tomar Qamar and Gurgan villages.

27 May: Malakan, Gorasher, Kandol, Bardok, Bile, Nali and Tahe villages.

27 July: Nazaneen and Balisan villages.

14 September: Mergapan village.

Chemical attacks in 1988

25, 26 and 28 February: Sargaloo, Yakhsamar, Haladin, Gwezila and the Jafayati valley villages.

16 March: Halabja city.

18 March: Anab village and surroundings of Halabja city.

22-23 March: Shanakhse region and Sewsenan, Dokan, Balakjar, Jafaran and Wilyan villages.

3 May: Goptapa, Askar, Mayla, Sarchma, Shekhan, Kalashera, Chami Rezan, Qochablakh and Zarze villages.

It has been proven that most of the victims were innocent civilians including children. The entire environment was polluted and destroyed, including the water, trees, land, animals and livestock.

The Kurdish people have been waiting for two decades to hold the criminals accountable before the law for these brutal actions. We prepared the case of the chemical bombardment of Halabja. During these preparations, information was uncovered demonstrating that one of the UNSCOM WMD inspectors’ reports in 1996 revealed the truth of the chemical attacks. Even afterwards, several international companies sold such weapons to Iraq. A large number of these are Dutch companies.

We call upon the Dutch Parliament and Government to

1. Carry out an immediate legal investigation of those companies that sold chemical weapons to Iraq.

2.Take part in the reconstruction of demolished and contaminated areas in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

3.Take responsibility for providing medical treatment to survivors of chemical attacks in the Kurdistan Region, who are still suffering and dying from the effects of the chemical attacks.

4.Recognise this crime as genocide and apologise officially to the Kurdish people.

We also call upon the Iraqi Federal Government, according to the decision issued on 18 March 2008, correspondence number Sh.Z/10/1/6166 of Iraq’s Council of Ministers, to seriously pursue, identify and bring to justice all the companies that sold weapons of mass destruction to Iraq.