In the northern Iraqi town of Halabja, Kurdish representatives will meet on Monday to commemorate the victims of the poison gas attacks of the Iraqi Air Force 27 years ago (March 16 to 18, 1988). Heinrich Schultz, board member of the Society for Threatened Peoples, will represent the STP at the ceremony. He was invited to Halabja by Kheder Kareem, Mayor of Halabja and Vice-President of the international organization "Mayors for Peace".

This year's commemoration will take place under the most difficult conditions, since the Kurds in northern Iraq still have to defend themselves against the unabated attacks of the jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) and simultaneously provide help for at least a million refugees from Iraq and Syria, among them hundreds of thousands of Yazidis, Christian Assyrians/Chaldean/Aramaeans, Shabak, Shiite Turkmen and other minorities from Mosul, the Sinjar region and the Nineveh plains.

In view of this alarming situation – and bearing in mind that German companies contributed significantly to the establishment of Saddam Hussein's poison gas industry – the STP is convinced that Germany should step up its assistance for refugees and other needy people in northern Iraq. "The sum of 42.6 million Euros, which the federal government is planning to provide until the end of 2014, is only a drop in the ocean," stated the human rights organization.

At least 5,000 people died in the poison gas attacks in Halabja in 1988. The survivors are suffering from the consequences of the bombing with mustard gas, sarin, tabun and cyanide until today. In the region of Halabja, there are still dangerously high concentrations of toxic substances in the environment that lead to permanent health problems such as nerve paralysis, skin diseases, tumor formation, miscarriages and lung damages.

We would be happy to organize telephone contact to our board member Heinrich Schultz and to the Mayor of Halabja, Mr. Kheder Kareem.

Header Photo: Flickr/jan Sefti