The Kurdish Genocide

On 28 February 2013, a unanimous vote was taken before the
British parliament, establishing overwhelming support, to
formally recognise that the crime of genocide was committed
against Iraqi Kurds by senior officials of the government of
Saddam Hussein, based on a policy of extermination targeting
Iraqi Kurds during the Anfal and Halabja military campaigns in
1988.1 The Kurdish Regional Government has called the vote “a
significant landmark” for the victims of the genocide that are
seeking past atrocities committed against them to be
acknowledged internationally.2 The British vote follows similar expressions of support by the
Norwegian and Swedish parliaments last year.3 A draft
resolution to recognise the Kurdish genocide has been
approved by the Swedish parliament.4 There is great support
and significant efforts being made by these two countries as
well as the British parliament to internationalize the Kurdish
genocide.
Both the United Nations and the European Parliament have
hosted commemorative events in the past years. A conference
to commemorate the attack on Halabja as genocide was hosted
in the European Parliament on 8 March 2012.5 Moreover, the City of Peace and Justice, The Hague has recently
approved plans to build a memorial site to commemorate the
victims of the Kurdish Genocide. That the crimes committed against Iraqi Kurds constitute
genocide is uncontroversial in Iraq, which is the only state to
have officially recognised the crimes of its former government
accordingly.

These developments are an important and timely step forward for facilitating wider debate as well as much
needed action, to recognise the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein’s regime against Iraqi Kurds, within
the European Parliament.
This advocacy strategy has been developed to facilitate the process of recognition through debate and to
ultimately achieve formal recognition from the European Parliament. The strategy provides a brief account of
the relevant acts amounting to genocide in the context of the carefully planned and executed Anfal and Halabja
military campaigns. It will then highlight the legal status of these acts in relation to the law of genocide,
followed by a discussion on the geo-political importance of recognizing genocide in the context of Iraqi Kurds. A Roadmap follows this discussion, outlining the pathway or steps to be taken by the European Parliament for
achieving recognition.