Addressing Present Day Genocide of Assyrians in Iraq - Urgent Help Requested
For years, Kurdish and Iraqi governments have been using military force to deliberately target indigenous Assyrians. For background context, the Assyrians are an indigenous community holding ancestral roots in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. Assyrians have undergone a number of genocidal attempts by Ottoman Turks, Kurds and Arabs. These events include the genocide of 1915, Hakkari in 1924, Simele in 1933, Soriya in 1969, and recently, the 2014 invasion of ISIS.
Government officials systematically cause serious bodily and mental harm against indigenous Assyrians. As of recently, an Assyrian family residing in the Nahla region, located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, have been denied return to their home by a checkpoint run by the Peshmerga (A Kurdish militia). The mother of the family was severely ill, and needed medical assistance. The family drove to the town of Akra, where they remained in the hospital until about 12am in the morning. The family knew nobody in town, and could not afford a hotel for the evening. Their only home is in the Nahla region, however the Peshmerga refused to let them back into the village. Thus, the family was forced to sleep outside the checkpoint until daybreak.
Assyrians residing in Nahla are often denied access to food and medical supplies. This has undermined many Assyrians basic rights as found in international law, which include Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Right to an adequate standard of living, Article 12 of the ICESCR, Right to standard physical and mental health and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Freedom of movement. Both of these covenants were ratified in 1971 by the Iraqi government. Although the Kurdish government is granted autonomy of the Kurdistan region, the government is still obliged to respect these rights and ensure all citizens living in the region equally benefit from them.
Some Assyrians are not as lucky as this family. Many have been inhumanely detained, tortured or killed by these armed forces for no other reason than being Assyrian.
I am your constituency and I am Assyrian. I am pleading with you to ensure the Kurdish government enforces International Human Rights Laws and respects indigenous Assyrians who have resided in the region for thousands of years.
If the United States supports a Kurdish democracy, then it should be aware that the Kurdish Regional Government does not see the indigenous Assyrians as equal and are in fact supporting an apartheid state instead.
Government officials systematically cause serious bodily and mental harm against indigenous Assyrians. As of recently, an Assyrian family residing in the Nahla region, located in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, have been denied return to their home by a checkpoint run by the Peshmerga (A Kurdish militia). The mother of the family was severely ill, and needed medical assistance. The family drove to the town of Akra, where they remained in the hospital until about 12am in the morning. The family knew nobody in town, and could not afford a hotel for the evening. Their only home is in the Nahla region, however the Peshmerga refused to let them back into the village. Thus, the family was forced to sleep outside the checkpoint until daybreak.
Assyrians residing in Nahla are often denied access to food and medical supplies. This has undermined many Assyrians basic rights as found in international law, which include Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Right to an adequate standard of living, Article 12 of the ICESCR, Right to standard physical and mental health and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Freedom of movement. Both of these covenants were ratified in 1971 by the Iraqi government. Although the Kurdish government is granted autonomy of the Kurdistan region, the government is still obliged to respect these rights and ensure all citizens living in the region equally benefit from them.
Some Assyrians are not as lucky as this family. Many have been inhumanely detained, tortured or killed by these armed forces for no other reason than being Assyrian.
I am your constituency and I am Assyrian. I am pleading with you to ensure the Kurdish government enforces International Human Rights Laws and respects indigenous Assyrians who have resided in the region for thousands of years.
If the United States supports a Kurdish democracy, then it should be aware that the Kurdish Regional Government does not see the indigenous Assyrians as equal and are in fact supporting an apartheid state instead.
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