What does human rights look like?

By Michele Naar-Obed

In Suleimaniya, the absence of explosions and gunshots is striking. Instead, one hears the sounds of children going to school. Markets are bustling with people. Buses run regularly. There is new construction and the German company Siemens appears heavily invested in Kurdistan. There is a large city park where families come for picnics. The Muslim call to prayer can be heard from the Mosques. Christians attend the Chaldean Church and the sound of Mass spoken in Kurdish and Arabic is fascinating. Our hotel workers sometimes sing and music plays.

Basic human rights: the right to live without fear of violence, the right to food, shelter, health care, education, the right to practice one’s religion and the right to recreation. On the surface life seems to move in a good direction. But when one digs further, one finds human rights operating short of optimal.

With improved security, the Kurds experience a breather and operate above basic survival. But the reshuffling of the population presents challenges that test their ability to interact on a higher level. Arabs flock in droves into the Kurdish region. Kurdistan’s basic infrastructure cannot support this influx. Internally displaced persons, Kurdish and Arab, compete for diminished resources. The Kurds seem reluctantly willing to accommodate the influx but make it clear that Arabs are not welcome to stay. Arabs are not allowed to buy homes or land in Kurdistan.

Underlying this are deep-seated feelings of resentment that many Kurds harbor toward Arabs because of what was done by Saddam. Even with his execution, Kurds seem unable to reconcile their genocide. Their human rights were tragically violated and they felt the world was silent during the slaughter. This underlying trauma taints their interactions as they now find themselves in positions of deciding to grant or deny basic human rights to Arabs; a vicious cycle, which some good folks in Kurdistan are trying to break.

Upon arrival in Suleimaniya, we met Khalid Alber at the Ministry of Awqaf (religious trust fund) and Religious Affairs who told us of his visit with religious leaders in South Africa to learn about the reconciliation process following Apartheid. Khalid sees this as a viable model for Kurdistan. Human rights workers say there’s a desire for nonviolence training. Reconciliation is broached but with trepidation. Still, there’s a willingness to move forward.

The potential to break the chains of violence teeters precariously as the threats of war hover over the region. Turkey threatens attacks inside the Kurdish borders. The U.S. threatens Iran. Syria sides with Turkey. Turkey sides with Iran. The U.S. backs Israel. Any of this tips the balance towards injustice. A chance for human rights to be fully realized could be swept away by the push of a button.
But, the universal torchlight still burns within the human spirit, for Light has not been overcome by darkness—not yet.