WASHINGTON DC-- A bipartisan pair of congressmen proposed a resolution on Wednesday, calling on the United States government to recognize the genocidal campaign perpetrated by the former Iraqi regime against the Kurds in the late 1980s.
“Thousands of people lost their lives and hundreds of thousands lost their homes. Today, Kurds around the world are still dealing with the consequences of that tragedy,” said Maryland Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen on his website.
Van Hollen, who introduced the resolution along with Republican Congressman Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, said, “This resolution is a message to the world, and especially the survivors and families of those touched by this calamity – we have not forgotten, our hearts go out to those affected, and we will not let the memory of this crime fade away,”
In the late 1980s the former regime of Saddam Hussein launched a genocidal campaign against the Kurds, most notoriously the gassing of Halabja and the Anfal, in which close to 180,000 people were killed.
The two US congressmen introduced the same resolution in 2013, which stopped at the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The resolution also urges international organizations to recognize the Kurdish genocide while part of “reaffirms its commitment to the friendship between the United States and the Kurdish people in Iraq.”
“These crimes are the reason that many escaped and sought refuge in the United States. Shining a light on events, like those that happened at Halabja, will help create a world in which genocide and human rights violations will no longer be tolerated,” said Blackburn on the resolution.
“It is past time that the United States government recognizes the horrible human rights violations that have befallen the Kurdish people in Northern Iraq,” she added.
