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Dear Mr Speaker,
On 16 March 1988 the Iraqi Regime dropped chemical bombs on the town of Halabja and surrounding areas; killing many thousands, destroying livelihoods and leaving a legacy of life-long injuries and heartbreak to thousands more. In addition, the rest of the people have been displaced while their towns and villages were razed to the ground.
On the anniversary of this tragedy, we, as the opposition in the Kurdistan parliament, present to you this memo in order for it to be implemented as a step towards alleviating the victims’ sufferings in that town and its surroundings. Let the implementation of following points in 2012 become presents to the survivors on the anniversary of this chemical attack, because they have lost hope after hearing many false promises and empty talk in the past.
First: Giving city status to the town of Halabja since it has become part of the identity of the Kurds. Therefore city status for this town should not depend on what happens to other towns. In terms of legality, there are no issues in it becoming a city.
Second: Compensating the victims – according to article 140 of the Iraqi permanent constitution – should be moved to the first band of compensation, entitling them to 10 million dinars as this has been made available by the central government.
Opposition memo
Third: Implementation in full of the rights and entitlements law (9) of (2007), exclusive to families of martyrs and Anfal (genocide), because most of its articles exclude the families of chemical attack martyrs.
Fourth: Implementation of local services and development projects that have been mentioned in the 2010 and 2011 budget and specified for this purpose.
Fifth: Implementation of point (3) of article (3) of the budget law for 2011 that has dedicated 100 billion dinars to support services and development projects in towns and villages near the border, which includes those people who have been displaced from Halabja and surrounding areas.
Sixth: We also request that, within the provincial development budget, a deserved sum to be specified for Halabja.
We hope that these demands are met, by ordering the Kurdistan Regional Government and related departments to implement them during this year’s anniversary of the chemical attack.
Gorran, KIU and KIG logos
Sincerely,
The Gorran fraction
The KIU fraction
The KIG fraction
