Between February and September 1988, approximately 182,000 Kurdish civilians were killed during eight coordinated phases of military operations. Over 4,000 villages and hundreds of small towns were demolished, obliterating centuries of Kurdish rural life. Chemical weapons, including mustard gas and nerve agents, were deployed against civilians, most notably in the town of Halabja, where an estimated 5,000 people were killed in a single attack on March 16, 1988.

The term “Anfal,” taken from the Qur’an, was cynically repurposed by the Ba’athist regime to lend a veneer of legitimacy to acts of genocide. Traditionally referring to the “spoils of war,” the word was used by the regime as a codename for a campaign of extermination.

However, the systematic targeting of the Kurdish population predates Anfal. Throughout the 20th century, Kurdish communities were subjected to repeated acts of state-sponsored violence, including:

• The Arabization of Kirkuk and surrounding areas during the 1960s and 1970s, which involved the forced displacement of Kurdish families and their replacement by Arab settlers.
• The mass deportation and disappearance of Faylee Kurds in the 1970s and 1980s.
• The Barzani Genocide of 1983, during which more than 8,000 Barzani men and boys were detained by Saddam’s forces, executed, and buried in mass graves in southern Iraq.

The Anfal Campaign marked the culmination of these efforts, involving not only mass killings and chemical warfare but also widespread property destruction, forced resettlement, internment in concentration camps, and the deliberate fragmentation of Kurdish families and communities.

International recognition of the Anfal Campaign as a genocide was slow to emerge. In 2010, the Iraqi Supreme Court officially classified the campaign as genocide. Since then, numerous international organizations, human rights groups, and academic institutions have echoed this determination. Nevertheless, the pursuit of full international accountability remains a central objective of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Today, the Anfal Campaign is a defining chapter in Kurdish national memory. The victims are commemorated annually through public memorials and educational initiatives across the Kurdistan Region. The town of Halabja, in particular, remains a powerful symbol of both Kurdish suffering and resilience.

The impact of the Anfal Campaign continues to shape the mission and policies of the KRG. The Region’s steadfast commitment to democracy, pluralism, minority rights, and peaceful coexistence is deeply rooted in the imperative to prevent future atrocities. Through documentation projects, survivor testimonies, and partnerships with international institutions, the KRG works to preserve the historical record and raise global awareness.

Diplomatic offices such as the KRG Representation in the United States advocate for broader international recognition of the Kurdish Genocide- not only as an acknowledgment of historical truth but also as a critical step toward achieving justice and preventing future crimes against humanity.

For the Kurdish people, Anfal is not merely a historical episode- it is a living memory, a national cause, and a solemn reminder of the collective responsibility to ensure that such horrors never occur again.

Footnotes

1. Human Rights Watch, Genocide in Iraq: The Anfal Campaign Against the Kurds, 1993.
2. Kurdistan Regional Government, Anfal Campaign and Kurdish Genocide, 2024.
3. Holocaust Museum Houston, Al-Anfal, 1988.
4. Kurdistan Regional Government Representation – Intern Packet, 2025.
5. European Parliament Report, The Kurdish Genocide.
6. Kurdistan24, “KRG Marks Anniversary of Anfal, Calls for International Recognition,” 2024.

Genocide of Kurds and Minorities

In 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) launched a campaign of genocidal violence against Iraq’s most vulnerable minority populations. Amid this crisis, the Kurdistan Region, in keeping with its longstanding tradition of providing refuge to the persecuted, assumed a leading role in the humanitarian and protective response.

The genocide perpetrated against the Yezidi community, concentrated in the Sinjar (Shingal) region, stands as one of the most harrowing atrocities committed by ISIS. In early August 2014, ISIS militants attacked dozens of Yezidi towns and villages, massacring over 10,000 individuals. Thousands of Yezidi women and girls were abducted, enslaved, and subjected to systematic sexual violence. Entire villages, including Kocho and Qiniyeh, were reduced to mass graves, many of which remain under investigation. Despite sustained recovery efforts, nearly 4,000 Yezidis are still missing, their fates unknown.

ISIS’s campaign extended beyond the Yezidi population. Other religious and ethnic minorities- including Assyrian Christians, Shabak, Turkmen, and Kaka’i communities- were also systematically targeted across Nineveh Province and beyond. Places of worship, cultural heritage sites, and civilian homes were destroyed in an orchestrated attempt to erase Iraq’s religious and ethnic diversity. Forced conversions, ransom demands, ethnic cleansing, and extrajudicial executions were employed as tools of terror and subjugation.

By the end of 2014, the Kurdistan Region had become a primary sanctuary for more than one million internally displaced persons from Iraq and Syria. The cities of Erbil, Duhok, and Sulaymaniyah hosted expansive camps and emergency shelters. Despite significant resource constraints, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) mounted a rapid and coordinated humanitarian response, in partnership with international organizations, to provide essential services including shelter, medical care, education, and protection.

In parallel, the KRG undertook immediate steps to document ISIS atrocities. Through the Kurdistan Region’s Genocide Documentation Office and in collaboration with international experts, efforts were launched to collect survivor testimonies, map mass graves, and gather forensic evidence to support future judicial proceedings. These initiatives reflected the KRG’s firm commitment to justice and accountability.

The rescue and rehabilitation of abducted Yezidis has remained a top priority. Kurdish security forces, often operating alongside international partners, conducted targeted operations to recover captives from ISIS-controlled areas. Specialized support services were established to provide survivors with psychological care, legal aid, and reintegration assistance.

The genocide committed by ISIS against the Yezidis and other minority communities has since been formally recognized by several international bodies, including the United Nations, the United States Government, and the European Parliament. These designations serve not only as affirmations of historical fact but also as urgent calls to uphold the global responsibility to prevent future mass atrocities and protect at-risk populations.

The KRG continues to focus on the reconstruction of the Sinjar region and other affected areas, advocating for the safe, voluntary return of displaced families. However, the path to recovery is complex, hindered by ongoing security concerns, political instability, and the deep psychological trauma experienced by survivors.

Despite these challenges, minority communities remain steadfast. The KRG’s enduring dedication to justice, human rights, and the protection of vulnerable populations reflects the Kurdish people’s own historical experience: one marked by suffering, but defined by perseverance, solidarity, and hope.

Footnotes

1. United Nations Human Rights Council, They Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis, 2016.
2. KRG-US Representation, Intern Packet: History and Context of the KRG, 2025.
3. Amnesty International, Escape from Hell: Torture, Sexual Slavery in ISIS Captivity in Iraq, 2014.
4. Kurdistan24, “KRG Continues Recovery Efforts for Yezidi Survivors,” 2024.
5. U.S. Department of State, Report on ISIS Genocide Determination, 2016.
6. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL, 2020.

Kurdistan Memory Program

From personal stories, including those who survived terrible persecution under the era of Saddam Hussein and those suffering the cruelties of ISIS, emerge universal human truths and emotions. These stories reveal a dramatic and heroic story of the people of Kurdistan.

National tragedy has changed life in Kurdistan irrevocably, defining the history of the region. Cycles of genocide in Iraq have visited tragedy after tragedy on its people, from the victims of the Anfal campaign, the chemical bombardment of Halabja, and the disappearance of the Barzani men, to the recent horrors of the genocide of Yezidis, Christians, and others by ISIS.

The Kurdistan Memory Programme is preserving this heritage by producing a world-class, digital multimedia record, so that the world can more deeply understand how their lives have been shaped by the events of the past.

In addition to documenting the stories of genocide, the KMP collects eyewitness accounts from some of Kurdistan’s most significant modern events, to establish an accessible filmed record, in both Kurdish and English, that will be freely available to all online. The KMP brings together an experienced international team of media professionals and researchers from Iraqi Kurdistan, the UK, Europe and the USA.

Over the past years, the KMP has created the world’s largest bilingual film resource on Anfal and Kurdish history; employed researchers throughout Kurdistan and the diaspora; conducted over 1,000 interviews; edited and produced over 400 video testimonies; and accumulated a unique video archive containing over 30 years of Kurdish historical footage.

Click here to visit the Kurdistan Memory Programme website.