THE GENOCIDE AND THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMES IN SOUTH OF IRAQ

By Dr.Munther Al Fadhal
Summary of the speech at University of London – School of Oriental and African Studies SOAS
Dated on 26/7-2002

Genocide is aiming to kill people by different devices and it is considered as a dangerous acts that threaten security and safety of society because it result in extermination and persecution of human totally or partially because of the nature of their nationality, their race or their religion. Genocide is not a political crimes but it is a usually deliberate crime even if it’s committing by a political motivation. Genocide is an International Crime.
Historical development this crime goes back to time of Babylon and it was committed in the First World War by Germans who used the poisonous gasses in France and during the Second World War too in 1939-1945. Kurds inside Kurdistan and other places of Iraq has also suffered from this crime and what the Faily Kurds has been exposed to emigration, disappearing and execution out of judiciary girdle. The same crimes have been committed against Shiaa in central and south Iraq before and after uprising 1991.
Genocide committed by the Iraqi regime was always comprehensive and against all Iraqi people regardless of ethnical, religious or cultural considerations. For instant, the Assyrians who are the indigenous people of Iraq and a tiny & peaceful national and Christian minority have been subjected to ethnical and religious cleansing even they were not forming any threatening or dangerous to the existing regime.
Because of Genocide is an awful crime and affecting human rights, therefore has FN issued tow international agreements and that was resulted in holding assembly in Rom to establish an International court in 1988 and that came to light in 11/4 -2002, where the agreement was deposited to FN and the judges would research in different International crimes among these is genocide crime.
Denominational repression policy is another kind of genocide that the Iraqi regime has committed in central and south Iraq against citizens. Discrimination and humiliation of Shiaa through series of articles that was published in regime newspaper following the uprising in April 1991 was a part of this crime and especially when the regime has doubted about the identity of Marshlands residents as Arabs and as Iraqis and by that the regime got excuses to bombing their cities by different weapons and establishing (Saddam rivers). No doubt these people living in area where the oldest civilization historically began and where the old law as Sumerian, Babylon law born.
Violation of human rights that is committing by dictators is no longer an interior matter, where the International community interfering is not possible to cease repression of the civil or remains as a sightseer for all kinds of genocides crimes in the world. But respecting human right has shown to be matter for International community and must not be limited as long as that situation become a source for insecurity and instability and that would affecting international peace situation especially when the repressions is within the state terror.
In Iraq has violation against human rights been since 1968 very seriously especially concerning the Kurds, Shiaa, Turkmen and Assyrians. The situation became worse when the war between Iraq and Iran broke out, chemical weapons was used in 1988 against the Kurds and during invading Kuwait in 1990. Drying the Marshlands, destructing environment, poisoning the waters and bumping the cities in South has been a clear infracting to legislations, international commitments and not least all religions. In this connection the research is divide op as follows:

  • Restricting concept of genocide crime

  • International crimes against human-being in South Iraq

1. Restricting concept of genocide crime

Convention of forbidding committing genocide in 1946 was about that extermination means whipping out human being for their race, religion on purpose and expression of genocide became associated with Nazism because of massacring people for their race and religion and that was considered as crime against humanity even thought that was not an infractions to law of those regimes.

  1. Killing members of groups

  2. Physical and mental torturing of the members of groups

  3. Forcing the group totally or partly to a critical materialistic life situation

  4. Enforcing facilities that prevent birth in the group

  5. Removing the children of the group to other group

All these International crimes do not fall by time and a punishable by the law whether it has been carried out or work for at carry it out. Every one who committed this kind of crime is responsible for that apart from his position such as constitutional responsible or ordinary public staff.

Killing the groups happens in different ways and by different facilities as following:

  • Bodily genocide and the ethnical cleansing: it is about killing the people by poison gas, execution and buries the people alive, and that what happened in Iraq in 1991 and later on against the Shai inhabitants in South Iraq. The Iraqi regime killed in one day 2000 of the Shai through a process called “cleaning of prisons”. The crime against South of Iraq have been very huge and through the Satellites these crimes was filmed and show the destruction of Marshlands by construction of dams and draining the Marshlands, which caused forcible migration of local populations. The human rights, Europeans Parliament in year 2002, and the human rights condemned the crimes and it was definite as International crime following a declaration from Ambassador David Shiver in USA.

  • Biological genocide: it is about sterilising the men and aborting the women in order to wiping out the race of that group.

  • Cultural genocide: it is about forbidding a nation to converse with own native language and that has happened to the Kurd in Iraqi Kurdistan and In Turkey against the Kurds. Though this crime has result in assimilation and ruining of that groups existence, still the “The international family ” has not given enough attentions to this crime. The reasons for this crime could be pointed out as follows:

    • Religious reason: One of the worse crimes in our time has been crimes of Iraqi regime against the South Iraq such as poising the water, drying the Marshlands, bumping their city and terrorising their people especially the religious, who disappeared and killed.

    • Political and social reasons: it is bout assimilation and arabisation of non-Arab people in Iraq as it has been carried out by a series of resolutions against the Kurd generally and Faily Kurd, who has been offer for this crime because of their nationality and as follower of Shiia belief. It is needless to mention in details about the Ba’ath Arabization tyrannical policy against small minority i.e. the Assyrians who were not allowed to mention their ethnicity during the official Iraqi census of 1977 and 1987 and they were forced to refer to themselves as Arab, since there are a lot of human rights organizations reports dealt with this matter.


PART TWO

International crimes against the humanity in South Iraq

1. Introduction

Before reporting the International crimes in South Iraq, it is necessary to clarifying the three parts of it as following:

  1. War Crimes

  2. War against peace

  3. Crimes against Humanity

The International crime: It is a high crime and committed on purpose which means criminal intent exists. Therefore the International crimes is considered to be Infamous Crime that tremble the International security and peace not just that country but the whole International community and the punishment has to be carried out by the International community.


2. The International crime against humanity

  1. Legitimacy background: It is about the law clause that condemn the event through International conventions as conventions of forbidding genocide that exterminate human like what the Iraqi regime done against Shiaa in South Iraq, where thousands of people buried a live during the uprising 1991 and in Kurdistan concerning Anfal and Halabjha.

  2. Materialistic background: it is about acts or that constitute an International crime like demolishing environment, disappearing of people and using people for biological and chemical experimentation. Almost 300.000 people abandoned there places and more than 100.000 live in Iran as refugee because of the disaster that hit the environment like water poisoning and extinction of major part of birds and fishes of that area.

  3. Mentally background: because of the International crime commits on purpose and threaten the peace in the world therefore the crime is considered to be.


3. War crime in south of Iraq

Although war is not result in any thing but huge violations of human rights, therefore the international conventions which concerning the rules of war must be taken into consideration as following:

  1. Den- Haug convention in 1899 – 1907

  2. Rules in forbidding using

  3. Geneva protocol for 1925 in forbidding using poison gas and biologic

The international Security Council condemned the Iraqi regime for using chemical weapons in 1988 against the Kurds in accordance to introduced resolution in 26-8-1988. Using the chemical weapons, drying and poison marchlands committed against the inhabitants in South Iraq besides storing chemical weapons in mortuary of Nejaf and Kerbala.


4. Example of the international war crime in Iraq

  1. Genocide, the crime of genocide committed against Kurd in Kurdistan and in other part of the country like against the emigrations of the faily Kurd, who become offer because of their belief in Shiaa.

  2. Genocide the humanity by using chemical weapons against the Kurd in 1988 and shaia in 1991.

  3. Bumping the civil target against the Kurdish villages, inhabitants of Najef, Kerbala, Basara, semaow and Dewania and against Iran.

  4. Burying the people a live. Thousands hundreds of the Kurd in Iraqi Kurdistan and of shaa in South were buried a live. This crime is a war crime and do not fall by time and the international criminal can not claim any politician excuse to commit that crime and must not be given asylum.

  5. Execution crime of the captives: killing, executing or burying the captives alive is an international crime and must the accuser be prosecuted as a war criminal.

  6. Torturing the captives and interrogate them by force is war crime.

  7. Violation against woman: this crime as committed in Kurdistan and in Kuwait during the occupation.

  8. Mines implantation against human: The Iraqi regime has implanted more than 10. Millions mines against people in Kurdistan.

According to rules of International law the people who commit an International crime can not be granted political or humanist asylum and must be punished by law for their crime that can not be fallen because of time. Fallen a crime because of time is not considered in situation of Benoshe, former president of Chile and Slobedan Melosafech of Serbia.
Amnesty International in this connection has taken initiative to tallying rules of International Law according to agreement of Geneva in 1949-8-12, agreement of Den-Haug in 1899 and protocol Geneva in 1925. To protect the human. Amnesty International has also provided many rules to protect human in the war situation such as forbidding killing the civil people and the injured captive, to treat the injured people and the sick, to insure the people a fair court, and no part in the war has to choose the weapon or the manner of the war. But unfortunately the Iraqi regime did not take any of these rules in consideration in the war with Iran and in suppressing the uprising in Kurdistan and South Iraq or in Kuwait.


5. Crimes against peace

The people at time of peace have many rights that should not get violated such as civil rights, political rights, economical rights, and social and cultural rights. Therefore in a war situation must these rights be taken in consideration and if not then the International crime is in force such as offensive against other country as the case of Kuwait in 1990, participating in conspiracy to invading another country, or affiliating other country’s territory by force.


6. Crimes against Humanity

The crimes that against humanity has been considered by Vatican as crimes against God and human. These crimes were specified by Nuremberg court and considered as International crimes and must be punishable. A big part of theses crimes has been committed by Saddam regime such as killing and whipping out the civil in Kurdistan- Kirkuk such as destroying 4500 villages. In 1976-77 over 200 Assyrian ancestral villages in northern Iraq were razed by the Iraqi regime. Scores of churches were also destroyed. Nearly every village had a church and/or monastery and some of the ancient churches were as much as 1400 years old and totally were levelled with the ground without any consideration to its historical account.


7. Crimes against South Iraqi Shia

...such as forcing hundreds thousands of them to leave Iraq to Iran because of their believe, torturing and killing their religious leadership in all holy city of Iraq such as Nejaf, Kerbal.


8. Recommendation and conclusion

  • Because of the brutality of repression of human rights in Iraq, it has been necessary to carry out follows:

  • Activating and revising resolution 688 in order to be introduced according to chapter seven of the compact for set up teams of researching to investigate the situation of human rights in Iraq.

  • Establishing an especial court for International crimes to call to account that has been responsible for committing the International crimes against the Shia and Kurds.

  • Pay compensation to victims who life got ruined because of International crimes offences and cancel a particular court.

  • Cancelling the execution punishment from all Iraq laws and it is necessary to International community to carry out retribution against regimes which abusing human rights.

  • Establishing high constitution court to watch constitution of the law and obligating the state and all in governor.

  • Activating of the UN´s role to help Iraqi people.

  • Freezing all stolen balances from the Iraq state.

  • The UN has to work for paying a part of the return oil as compensation to Iraqi people, who has become refuge before and after the Gulf war.

  • Establishing a high committee of Iraqi experts in law in order to investigate the crimes that committed against Iraqi people and pointing out the compensation to pay those people.

  • Carrying out through media to the world all crimes against Iraqi people and focusing on International community role to stop the continued ethnical cleansing of Iraqi people.

  • Rehabilitation of the environment in South Iraq and work for renovating all damaging in the Marshlands by removing all dams and help the refugee to return to their place in those areas.

Now we are waiting the result: Bringing Iraqi war criminals to justice!