KRG representative to US to hold online event on 33rd anniversary of Halabja genocide

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) representative to the United States is scheduled to hold an online conference to commemorate the 33rd anniversary of the Halabja genocide.

The conference will start on March 16, to coincide with the same day on which the previous Iraqi regime, led by Saddam Hussein, launched a chemical weapons attack on Halabja in 1988, which claimed the lives of more than five thousand Kurds, most of them innocent women and children.

Titled "Bearing Witness and Learning the Lessons from the Halabja Genocide," KRG representative to the US Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman will moderate the event, set to take place between 11:00 am–12:30 pm EST (06:00 pm–07:30 pm Erbil time).

Speakers at the event include Shelan Fatah, survivor of the Halabja genocide, Fareed Yasseen, Iraq’s Ambassador to the United States, Chris Van Hollen, United States Senator, Chris Stewart, Member of the US Congress, Joey Hood, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, US State Department, and Hannibal Travis, Professor of Law, Florida International University.

On March 16, 1988, Iraqi aircrafts launched a chemical attack on the city of Halabja, killing some 5,000 people and injuring 10,000 more.

Halabja is a Kurdish city located 215 kilometers southeast of Erbil, and 10 kilometers from Iran’s border. The town was officially recognized as the newest province in the Kurdistan Region and Iraq at the end of 2013.

The genocide was one of many horrific crimes committed by the former Iraqi regime under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship against the people of Kurdistan. During Hussein’s rule, thousands of innocent Kurds were martyred, scores of people injured, and many villages and towns destroyed.

The Iraqi High Criminal Court recognized the Halabja massacre as an act of genocide on March 1, 2010

Click here to sign up to participate in the conference.

Editing by Khrush Najari