Post-Anfal Justice: Rights group urges reparations for victims

Shafaq News

14-04-2025

Shafaq News/ On Monday, a leading Iraqi human rights organization called on the government to formally recognize the Anfal campaign as genocide and to provide reparations to survivors.
Marking the 37th anniversary of the campaign, Fadhel al-Gharawi, head of the Strategic Center for Human Rights in Iraq, said the military operation in the Kurdistan Region, conducted under the former Baathist regime, led to the deaths of an estimated 180,000 Kurdish civilians through mass executions, chemical attacks and forced displacement, and destroyed more than 4,000 villages.
'The operation was carried out in eight phases and resulted in widespread suffering,' al-Gharawi told Shafaq News. 'Survivors endured forced family separations, arbitrary detention, and burial in mass graves.'
The Iraqi High Criminal Court previously recognized the Anfal campaign as genocide, in line with the 1948 Genocide Convention. However, al-Gharawi said many families were still waiting for compensation and information on missing relatives.
He urged parliament and the government to reopen the case under transitional justice frameworks, recommending a package of measures including reparations, official acknowledgment, and international advocacy for global recognition.
The official also called for the Anfal campaign to be included in school curricula, the continuation of forensic investigations at mass grave sites, and the creation of a national museum to preserve testimony and historical records.
'Survivors would benefit from long-term psychological support and state-sponsored rehabilitation programs, as well as a centralized database to track victims,' he emphasized.
According to the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), many survivors still face economic hardship and lack access to specialized healthcare, particularly in remote areas of the Kurdistan Region.