As Kurds in Iraq remember the atrocities committed at Halabja 20 years ago in Kurdistan, Iraq, KHRP would like to take this opportunity to call for greater recognition of the genocidal crimes committed by the former Baathist government under Saddam Hussein and redress for those affected by them.

On 16 March 1988, Iraqi military planes dropped chemical agents on the town of Halabja in Kurdistan, Iraq, killing some 5,000 civilians. This attack was only part of a systematic six-and-a-half month 'Anfal' campaign, in which 180,000 people "disappeared" and some 4,000 villages were destroyed. The legacy of Halabja lives on today, as direct survivors and their descendents continue to suffer from medical, psychological, social and economic problems caused by the attacks and the massive displacement they have inflicted.

A KHRP Fact-Finding Mission sent to investigate the impact of the declaration of ‘High Security Zones’ in the Kurdish regions of Turkey returned yesterday.  Mission members Sara Capogna and Nazmi Gür visited Tunceli, Bingöl, Diyarbakir, Cizre and Şirnak, meeting with human rights lawyers, government and political party officials, and trade union and NGO representatives.

The mission observed that the most commonly violated rights were related to the freedoms of expression, thought and association.  Worryingly, the mission also noted that there was a general consensus that the situation in these regions had deteriorated over the last two years, although it has not reached the same levels of oppression and human rights violations of the 1990s.