IRAQ UPDATE: 1- 10 August, 2008
September 2nd, 2008
in:
CPTnet
2 September 2008
IRAQ UPDATE: 1- 10 August, 2008
Members of CPT's Iraq team during this period were Peggy Gish, Joe Mueller, Garland Robertson, and Chihchun Yuan. From 5-12 August, the team hosted a six-person delegation.
Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 August
Mueller and Gish finished the last two days of training people in Suleimaniya to conduct nonviolence trainings. Delegation members began to arrive in Amman. On Sunday, due to an overbooked flight, the delegation did not arrive as planned.
Tuesday, 5 August
After the delegation arrived, Mueller and Yuan accompanied the delegates to the city of Halubja where a survivor of the chemical bombing in March 1988 told them his story. He spoke of his five children that he either buried or lost during those three days of attacks. He also expressed his concern about the provincial election law recently passed by the Iraqi Central Parliament, which he sees as violating the rights of the Kurdish people. He is afraid war might break out against the Kurds. Even though he is old, he said he would still go to Kirkuk to fight for the future of his grandchildren if the war happened.
The delegation visited the memorial for victims of chemical attack, which people from Halubja had burned down during a demonstration against government corruption. The government is rebuilding the memorial and hopes to reopen it next year.
Also in Halubja, the delegation visited the "Women Progress" women's center and a radio station run by women and youth. The women's center provides literacy and vocational training for women, children's programs in villages, and runs a women's café.
Wednesday, 6 August
Robertson, Gish, and the delegates met with the directors of WADI, an organization working to stop violence against women in the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) since 1992. WADI has worked to pass a law against female genital mutilation, and has established protective shelters for women and mobile units that go to villages to help women escape violent or threatening situations. WADI started the women's shelter, café, and radio station in Halubja. It has programs in a prison for juveniles near Suleimaniya, where, according to the directors, about half of the youth are incarcerated because they are accused of homosexual activity.
Thursday, 7 August
Delegates and team members interviewed independent journalists who have felt at risk for writing about injustice or corruption. One recounted a time when he was threatened, then shot at and wounded, after writing a piece criticizing actions of Kurdish officials. Another told about writing a newspaper article in 2006 asking the KRG to stop cooperating with the American government, which had done nothing to help the poor people of Iraq. He said the next day, American soldiers surrounded the newspaper office, went in, searched it, and warned him not to write anything else like that.
When the group met with a representative of the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) he assured them that ICRC sent more water to the Zharawa IDP (Internally-Displaced Persons) Camp and that, if needed, would help provide more protective housing for the IDP's in the winter.
Saturday, 9 August
While Mueller facilitated the third day of a nonviolence workshop in Rania, other team and the delegation went to Zharawa IDP camp near the Iranian border. Authorities stopped them when they attempted to walk with the residents to their villages that had been bombed, (only two-four km away) and see the damage, or to spend the night in the camp. Many residents of the camp described the bombing of their village and the difficulties they face, such as the shortage of clean water and their uncertainty of their housing when the river rises with the fall rains and cold weather comes. They said an ICRC worker came last week and promised he would come back next week to solve the problem and provide them with clean water. They have requested meetings with members of the KRG Parliament, but it has been hard for them to get the necessary permission from Kurdish authorities to do so. CPT discussed the possibility of trying to arrange a meeting for them with Parliamentarians.
In the afternoon, CPTers initiated an art project with the children of the camp. On a banner that said, "Bombing Hurts. Please Stop," children and adults put their handprints. On a blank banner, children and adults drew pictures of the bombing and wrote messages calling for peace. (See 20 August CPTnet release: "IRAQ: Displaced villagers send concerns to representatives of Kurdish and U.S. governments," http://www.cpt.org/node/7276.)
Sunday, 10 August
Gish completed the final day of the nonviolence workshop session in Rania, while Yuan and Robertson revisited the Zharawa IDP Camp and traveled to Soran to visit the Kurdish Democratic Youth Union. The Union's staff described their educational programs for IDP youth from heavily damaged villages near the convergence of the Turkey, Iraq, and Iran borders. They also invited CPT to visit the damaged villages and offered to assist them.
2 September 2008
IRAQ UPDATE: 1- 10 August, 2008
Members of CPT's Iraq team during this period were Peggy Gish, Joe Mueller, Garland Robertson, and Chihchun Yuan. From 5-12 August, the team hosted a six-person delegation.
Saturday and Sunday, 2-3 August
Mueller and Gish finished the last two days of training people in Suleimaniya to conduct nonviolence trainings. Delegation members began to arrive in Amman. On Sunday, due to an overbooked flight, the delegation did not arrive as planned.
Tuesday, 5 August
After the delegation arrived, Mueller and Yuan accompanied the delegates to the city of Halubja where a survivor of the chemical bombing in March 1988 told them his story. He spoke of his five children that he either buried or lost during those three days of attacks. He also expressed his concern about the provincial election law recently passed by the Iraqi Central Parliament, which he sees as violating the rights of the Kurdish people. He is afraid war might break out against the Kurds. Even though he is old, he said he would still go to Kirkuk to fight for the future of his grandchildren if the war happened.
The delegation visited the memorial for victims of chemical attack, which people from Halubja had burned down during a demonstration against government corruption. The government is rebuilding the memorial and hopes to reopen it next year.
Also in Halubja, the delegation visited the "Women Progress" women's center and a radio station run by women and youth. The women's center provides literacy and vocational training for women, children's programs in villages, and runs a women's café.
Wednesday, 6 August
Robertson, Gish, and the delegates met with the directors of WADI, an organization working to stop violence against women in the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) since 1992. WADI has worked to pass a law against female genital mutilation, and has established protective shelters for women and mobile units that go to villages to help women escape violent or threatening situations. WADI started the women's shelter, café, and radio station in Halubja. It has programs in a prison for juveniles near Suleimaniya, where, according to the directors, about half of the youth are incarcerated because they are accused of homosexual activity.
Thursday, 7 August
Delegates and team members interviewed independent journalists who have felt at risk for writing about injustice or corruption. One recounted a time when he was threatened, then shot at and wounded, after writing a piece criticizing actions of Kurdish officials. Another told about writing a newspaper article in 2006 asking the KRG to stop cooperating with the American government, which had done nothing to help the poor people of Iraq. He said the next day, American soldiers surrounded the newspaper office, went in, searched it, and warned him not to write anything else like that.
When the group met with a representative of the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) he assured them that ICRC sent more water to the Zharawa IDP (Internally-Displaced Persons) Camp and that, if needed, would help provide more protective housing for the IDP's in the winter.
Saturday, 9 August
While Mueller facilitated the third day of a nonviolence workshop in Rania, other team and the delegation went to Zharawa IDP camp near the Iranian border. Authorities stopped them when they attempted to walk with the residents to their villages that had been bombed, (only two-four km away) and see the damage, or to spend the night in the camp. Many residents of the camp described the bombing of their village and the difficulties they face, such as the shortage of clean water and their uncertainty of their housing when the river rises with the fall rains and cold weather comes. They said an ICRC worker came last week and promised he would come back next week to solve the problem and provide them with clean water. They have requested meetings with members of the KRG Parliament, but it has been hard for them to get the necessary permission from Kurdish authorities to do so. CPT discussed the possibility of trying to arrange a meeting for them with Parliamentarians.
In the afternoon, CPTers initiated an art project with the children of the camp. On a banner that said, "Bombing Hurts. Please Stop," children and adults put their handprints. On a blank banner, children and adults drew pictures of the bombing and wrote messages calling for peace. (See 20 August CPTnet release: "IRAQ: Displaced villagers send concerns to representatives of Kurdish and U.S. governments," http://www.cpt.org/node/7276.)
Sunday, 10 August
Gish completed the final day of the nonviolence workshop session in Rania, while Yuan and Robertson revisited the Zharawa IDP Camp and traveled to Soran to visit the Kurdish Democratic Youth Union. The Union's staff described their educational programs for IDP youth from heavily damaged villages near the convergence of the Turkey, Iraq, and Iran borders. They also invited CPT to visit the damaged villages and offered to assist them.