ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Iraqi parliament will vote on a long-awaited draft law that would see Halabja’s accession to a province on Monday, after multiple delays in the past.
The bill which has been highly contested by several Sunni and Shiite blocs for years, has been added to the parliament’s Monday agenda.
“Today, the subject of voting on a bill for the accession of Halabja is a strong moral support, which would help alleviate some of the pain Halabja people enduring,” Shakhawan Abdulla, deputy speaker of the Iraqi parliament, told reporters.
The bill had not been voted on due to the opposition of several parliamentary blocs in the past, who raised other Iraqi districts for accession.
Abdullah urged all the parliamentary blocs and lawmakers to attend today's session.
“The people of Halabja are expecting all sides to… attend the session and vote to make Halabja a province," he said.
On March 16, the 37th anniversary of the Halabja chemical attack, Kurdistan Region officials renewed their call for the ascension of Halabja to an Iraqi province, urging the parliament to expedite the process.
"No more negligence must be done against Halabja’s sacrifices and that they will have to be properly compensated, and Halabja's ascension to a province must be passed as soon as possible," Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani wrote on X.
Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi parliament have previously vowed to boycott any upcoming sessions of the legislature until a vote on Halabja’s provincial accession is carried out, after a scheduled vote on the bill was postponed for the second consecutive day in late March.
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