Ms Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, High Representative to the UK of the Kurdistan Regional Government said: “Yesterday, President Obama’s warning that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would cross a red line sent a clear message that such barbaric attacks will not be tolerated. The Kurdish people in Iraq know what it is like to be subjected to chemical weapons; in one such attack in Halabja, March 1988, 5,000 people were gassed to death and many more were injured. Saddam Hussein was the last person to use chemical weapons against his own people as part of the genocide against the Kurds of Iraq.
We are seeking international recognition of this and have launched a petition to gather support: http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/31014. We said never again after chemical weapons were inflicted on the Kurdish people, but two decades later, we are discussing such weapons being used once more. This shows more than ever why the genocide against the Kurds must be recognised internationally to prevent such atrocities happening again elsewhere and to reinforce the commitment to the ‘Responsibility to Protect’.”
