In the mountains of northern Iraq, Kurds are suffering from increased rates of cancer believed to be linked to the effects of chemical weapons used against them in the 1980s. Some forms of cancer are 10 times more common in Iraqi Kurdistan than the international average. There are also reports of an above average rate of prenatal mortality and sterility in men and women. In some parts of the region, an estimated 80% of pregnancies result in miscarriage or birth defects, according to local doctors. Due to the strict isolation of the region from the rest of the world, there are few local specialists to deal with these medical complications, and those that do exist are severely limited in supplies. The issue has been compacted by over a decade of international sanctioning. Equipment that could provide essential radiation treatment, for example, is denied by the UN sanctions committee due to concerns that it will be misused for weapons production.
A clandestine medical mission led by genetics doctor Christine Gosden from Liverpool Women’s Hospital is currently being carried out to provide some specialized assistance to Kurdish victims of chemical weapons. Funded largely by British government grants and private donations, she has set in place a system whereby Iraqi doctors are brought to London for training on cancer treatments for one month, then are returned to Kurdistan to carry out treatments more effectively. She also oversees the provision of precious medical supplies and equipment to the area, though she is unable to reveal her methods and sources for safety purposes. Already she has been issued death threats from the Iraqi government should she enter the country in person. Despite these setbacks, Dr. Gosden is determined that the Kurds not become a “forgotten people” after the suffering they’ve endured.
Background
Kurds have lived in the mountainous regions of Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria for over 2,000 years. Because of the region’s inaccessibility they have remained largely autonomous for centuries and have managed to retain many of their cultural traditions, including language and unique social organization. Increasingly in the past several decades however, the ruling states which encapsulate Kurdistan have become concerned over the possibility of a Kurdish cessation and have applied oppressive measures on the indigenous populations to assimilate. In Iraq, Kurds have historically been viewed by the dictatorial regime as politically subversive, and have suffered numerous governmental incursions consequently. The worst occurred at the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988 when Saddam Hussein’s military forces carried out the Anfal Campaign in northern Iraq, razing thousands of Kurdish towns and villages and killing 182,000 local civilians. The campaign climaxed with the dropping of chemical weapons (including irradiated zirconium bombs, mustard and nerve gas) upon the town of Halabaja, murdering over 5,000 Kurdish men, women, and children, and injuring 10,000 others.
The situation in Iraqi Kurdistan today remains ambiguous, as its borders have been closed to the international community since the UN created a safe haven there following the Gulf War. It remains a UN-protected no-fly zone, and there are reports that the autonomous region is enjoying an economic upsurge due to the UN’s oil-for-food program in which proceeds are funneled from Iraq’s crude oil sales into humanitarian projects throughout the country.
