British MPs Report on Five Years of Progress in Kurdistan

LONDON—When the British All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) first started sending parliamentary delegations in 2008, Iraqi Kurdistan was barely on the mental map for most. That has changed markedly thanks to many commercial, cultural and political groups.

Successive British Governments have abandoned an unwarranted wariness and now positively engage with the Region. The focus in the APPG reports on practical measures has helped lift the quality of the British-Kurdish relationship.

The APPG has played a major role in supporting an international campaign by the KRG to win formal and legal recognition of genocide against the Kurds of Iraq. Members of the APPG strongly believe that this should be treated as the Holocaust and other genocides are by the UK and the international community. The group secured an historic debate in the Commons on 28 February and won its formal and unanimous support for a formal recognition of the genocide.

The APPG believes that it is possible for the British Government to do more formally to mark the annual Anfal Day each 14 April. Keeping the memories alive is an essential prerequisite of making sure that there is never any repetition.

Economic confidence, growth and prosperity flow from its successful but hard-fought security. The Region remains in transition with weighty and painful decisions ahead but can do so on a substantially improved base. Living standards for all have improved as have public services but are patchy and need to be improved.

The cat and mouse game between Erbil and Baghdad is as old as Iraq itself. The APPG agrees with Kurdish leaders that Baghdad should nurture and celebrate the social and economic achievements of the Region and see it as the future for the whole country. It seems possible that the autonomous region and the federal government can negotiate a revenue sharing law that accompanies the new pipelines between the Kurdistan Region and Turkey.

The rapprochement with Turkey has concerned some in Baghdad and in America who fear that economic independence will become political independence and that Iraq will disintegrate. Members of the APPG accept that a unified Iraq should work for all its component parts through what President Barzani described to us as "partnership and power-sharing."

The Kurds told the APPG that the current revenue-sharing agreement should give them 17% of the national budget but that they usually receive about 10% and not consistently. The crucial need is for a robust and reliable revenue-sharing law.

However, the crisis in Syria is having a tremendous impact on Iraqi Kurdistan. Few people realise that 250,000 refugees are sheltering in the Kurdistan Region. This group pledge to do their utmost to increase humanitarian aid to the Kurdistan Region which is less about cash than capacity building. We agree that humanitarian intervention in Syria, backed by military force, should remain an option.

There are differences between the parties on domestic issues, as is normal, but deeper tensions are stretching their young democracy.

Transitions to parliamentary democracy, with its full array of checks and balances against centralisation and in favour of a healthy civil society, take time.

The Kurdistan Region has come far in a few short years. Its oil, gas, minerals, agriculture and tourism plus links with Turkey, Iran and other countries could lift its profile and the position of its people.

An important debate is how to avoid the curse of natural resources: avoiding their economy and society being dependent on this one resource, which will run out or for which world demand may drain as other energy sources are established. They are seeking to diversify the economy, although this has been hampered by the unreliability of funding from the federal government.

Change requires the reduction in the size and scope of the state which employs the vast majority of the workforce whose temptation is for the quiet and less productive life. This in turn disincentivises initiative, enterprise and economic pluralism.

Yet it politics and policy formulation are the preserve of a minority, who are over-worked and under considerable pressure. The APPG knows of proposals for a range of think tanks that can complement official programmes to increase capacity and participation and the APPG urges private sponsorship of such initiatives.

The Kurdistan Region is ahead in women's rights but remains a man's world. Members of the APPG congratulate the KRG on its efforts to reduce the incidence of FGM, which has fallen but should be eliminated.

A healthy but professional media is the bedrock of a democratic society. The APPG were saddened to hear of the murder of a journalist, Kawa Garmiyani. They condemn this murder and ask the authorities to pursue and prosecute those who carried out this attack.

The group has seen a major success story in the Kurdistan Region. Progress sometimes seems slower than necessary but they have accomplished big changes: a new energy sector, radically reshaping relations with Turkey, a massive expansion of education and a successful election campaign, vigorously fought with no major incidents.

The All Party Parliamentary Group promises to:

Seek to win a General Adjournment Debate in the Commons on UK relations with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Suggest that the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee considers an inquiry into UK relations with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and prospects for Kurds in Syria, Turkey and Iran.

Suggest that the UK Government invite the President and Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region on an official visit to London to meet the PM and the Foreign Secretary.

Suggest that the British Government considers the possibility of a visit by the Foreign Secretary to the Kurdistan Region.

Urge the UK Government to enter into discussions with the KRG about the supply of non-lethal security equipment.

Urge the UK Government to appoint a UK Trade Envoy to the Kurdistan Region.

Urge the Prime Minister to convene a seminar at Downing Street on the potential for British interests in the Kurdistan Region.

Seek a meeting with the Home Office to discuss the visa regime and any needless obstacles to increased cultural and commercial connections with Kurdistan.

Continue to urge the British Government to formally recognise the genocide conducted against the Kurds and to take a full part in marking the annual Anfal Day on 14 April.

The delegation consisted of Co-Chairs Nadhim Zahawi MP and Meg Munn MP together with Vice-Chair Robert Halfon MP, Mike Gapes MP, Leo Docherty, the Director of the Conservative Middle East Council and Gary Kent, the Director of the APPG. The delegation was in November 2013.

The full report can be found via http://www.appgkurdistan.org.uk/?p=341