Sweden is the first in the world to recognize Anfal Campaign as genocide on Kurds
December 6, 2012
STOCKHOLM,— The Swedish parliament on December 5th 2012 voted for recognition of the Anfal Campaign as genocide on the Kurds, done by the regime of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980's. After six years and eight months of work and effort by the human rights organization Kurdocide Watch in Sweden (CHAK) to introduce the this genocide to the Swedish Parliament, finally with the cooperation of the members of Kurdocide Watch Organization, Kurds in Sweden, the support of some Swedish parliament members and some Kurdish activists in Swedish parties, for the first time in the history of the Kurdish nation they achieved success.
After two times of disapproval by the Swedish parliament, finally the parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee on November 8th 2012 met for a discussion on this matter. After much research and dialogue, on November 15th, they concluded that the Anfal Campaign is a genocide which has been conducted on Kurds. This recognition brought the discussion to the Swedish Parliament on November 28th . Swedish congressmen, the chairmen of eight political parties and fourteen political officials confirmed that Anfal was genocide. But because of the limited time, the voting was adjourned to December 5th.
We are happy and pleased that Sweden is the first country in Europe and one of the first countries in the world that have voted to accept the Anfal Campaign as genocide against Kurds and this will be considered proudly by Kurdocide Watch organization as victory and a win for the Kurdish people. We hope this win can ease some of the grief and suffering of the families that became victims of the Anfal Campaign and especially the people of Halabja. Hopefully this decision will invite to meet the wishes and demands of the families that have suffered from the genocide, not only in Kurdistan but all over the world.
It is necessary to express our gratitude to all of the eight party leaders and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of Sweden that we have come to this point,www.ekurd.net and especially the Left Party and Green Party that they, for the third time in 5 years, gave it their support to finally get the support of other parties in Sweden to accept and recognize Anfal as genocide on the Kurdish people.
We want to thank all of the Swedish and Kurdish parliament members that supported in this case. We will never forget the support of Kurdish residents and political activists in Sweden who have been active in this matter. Also a special thanks to all the members and activists in Kurdocide Watch organization who have been active for so many years.
Hereby we give our promise to the the victims and to the Kurdish people, to refer Anfal as genocide and work for the acceptance and recognition of other massacres in Kurdish history. We will make the international communities to take action for the recognition of our people's sufferings.
Human Rights Organization Kurdocide Watch - CHAK
Committee of Sweden
2012.11.05
The Anfal Campaign lasted for three years , between 1986-1989 and was created by the Baathist regime in Iraq. Over 182 000 Kurds became viticims of the operation and even more people were driven away from their homes because of the destruction of their cities and villages. People have been found in mass graves and it has been stated that many of them where buried alive. Chemical weapons of mass destruction were used against this region and the people that survived still suffers from the damage and injuries from them. A great number of people is still missing today.
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