Deputy Speaker Hemin Hawrami and Lamedina NGO discuss minority rights, Yazidi genocide

The Deputy Speaker of the Kurdistan Parliament Hemin Hawrami on 21 October welcomed Ms. Antonella Caruso from the Los Angeles Institute for International Dialogue (LAMEDINA), a newly established NGO in the US. They discussed the rights and protection of Kurdistan's religious and ethnic communities, and recognition of the Yazidi genocide. 

Deputy Speaker of Parliament said that all the different minorities of Kurdistan are important in governmental institutions. He referred to Law No. 5 of 2015 of the Kurdistan Parliament, which is dedicated to protecting the rights of minorities in the Kurdistan Region.

He also said that all minorities in Kurdistan are free and that their religion and beliefs are respected. The Kurdistan Parliament voted to designate an official remembrance day for the Yazidi genocide, 3rd August, and the KRG is trying to find the Yazidi missing since the war against ISIS, he added.

Ms. Caruso, LAMEDINA's Director of the Middle East and West Asia Division, Department of Political Affairs, said that protecting the rights of minorities in the Kurdistan Region is crucial, and she was pleased to see the resolution on the Yazidi genocide passed by the Kurdistan Parliament.She called for the Iraqi Parliament to pass a similar law to recognise the genocide against Kurdish Yezidis.