British Kurds campaign for Genocide recognition

Iraqi Kurds from the UK have started a campaign for recognition of the mass-killing of Kurds in the 1980s and before as genocide.

Saddam Hussein’s regime killed over 180,000 Kurds in the northern region of Kurdistan, but the killing of Kurds by Arabs has occurred in the region since the 1960s.

The campaign, called Justice4Genocide, is petitioning the British Government to declare the atrocities as genocide and is calling on the EU and UN to do the same.

The calls for genocide recognition are supported by several British MPs and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

"Different people were responsible through different decades, so there are many, many people who have blood on their hands.” Said Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman of the KRG.

"Even though Saddam Hussein was charged with genocide he wasn't actually tried for genocide so that's another frustration for survivors."

A spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said,

"It is clear that appalling atrocities have been perpetrated against the Iraqi Kurds and other minorities.

"We have always condemned those crimes, which caused so much suffering to so many people.

"Today, we work closely with all of the people of Iraq to help support a stable, democratic and prosperous country where such atrocities can never happen again."

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