Minister: $400B-worth of damage to Kurdistan by Iraq’s former Ba'ath regime

Article 132 of the Iraqi Constitution obliges the Iraqi government to compensate the victims of the former oppressive regime.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs on Monday said the damages caused by Iraq’s former Ba’ath regime was worth nearly $400 billion USD.

During a speech at the commemoration of the 34th anniversary of the Barzan genocide, KRG Minister Mahmood Salih Hama Karim said the Iraqi Ba’ath regime committed several atrocities against the people of the Kurdistan Region.

“From July 29 to Aug. 10, the Ba’ath regime transferred the Barzani families into forced settlements where they took 8,000 men and adults to central and southern Iraq and then buried them alive,” the KRG Minister said.

Other crimes included massacres and forced displacement of Faiyli Kurds, the chemical bombardment of Halabja and other areas, the Anfal campaign, and destruction of Kurdistan’s villages, Karim stated.

According to Kurdish officials, all of the cases mentioned above have been recognized by the Iraqi Criminal Court.

Karim pointed to the Iraqi Constitution, emphasizing it was the responsibility of the Iraqi government to compensate the people of Kurdistan.

“The estimated cost of all these massacres and other crimes by the Ba’ath regime is $384 billion USD,” he stated.

“The Iraqi Constitution obliges the Iraqi government to compensate all the damages and pay salaries to the families of the victims,” Karim added.

According to Article 132 of the Constitution, approved by 80 percent of Iraqis in the 2005 referendum, “the State shall guarantee care for the families of the martyrs, political prisoners, and victims of the oppressive practices of the defunct dictatorial regime.”

However, Karim highlighted the Iraqi government’s failure to implement Article 132 just like many other items in the constitution.

 

Editing by Karzan Sulaivany