Along with many other government institutions, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs has done a great deal to raise awareness and help gain recognition for the genocide against our people , and your support and contributions to this effort could have a significant impact on the lives and mental wellbeing of those who have paid the greatest price for the freedoms that so many of us now enjoy. You can help on every level, from talking to your friends, to organising petitions and information campaigns or leveraging political connections to draw attention to this issue.
The relevant KRG ministries are both working to build on other efforts in this sector as well. Archeological projects continue to progress in partnership with major universities abroad, and efforts are under way to increase public access to the many historic sites here in the Region through better maps, guides and literature on them and through initiatives to protect the sites themselves.
Even with all of this, there is still much that can be done in these areas as well. Regardless of your level of access to funding or experts in a specific field, you can get involved through helping organise events to celebrate our national holidays in your communities abroad or further improve and expand the preservation of our history and culture here through pursuing your own support initiatives.
b. Kurds everywhere are entitled to participate in their own decision-making within democratic, federal, and pluralistic state structures.
As John Locke articulated more than 300 years ago, governments are an extension of the people that they govern. Accordingly, our relationship with government is such that we each, individually give our consent to be governed in order to ensure our greater good and overall security. Because we all enjoy the freedom of this choice, the right to just representation in government is a basic human right that has been given to us by nature itself.
The 1992 elections which established our Parliament and led to the creation of our government, and the elections that we now hold to determine its makeup are the primary means by which we recognize and exercise this natural right.
The protection of this natural right is also why we have worked so hard to ensure the implementation of the Iraqi Constitution, the rule of law and equal representation in the Federal Government. The atrocities of our past have taught us that this is a right we cannot take for granted. We will never again accept a Federal Iraqi Government that does not recognize our rights through including us as active participants in its operations.
As our brothers and our natural representatives abroad, you are perfectly situated to support us in this effort. You can help to preserve all of our rights by ensuring that the excesses of the Federal Iraqi Government do not go unnoticed. You can articulate the circumstances and realities of Kurdistan to your friends and colleagues abroad, and you can help build partnerships to expand and improve the strength and effectiveness of our civil society here in Kurdistan.
c. Our objective must be a peaceful and democratic transformation to a more modern and pluralistic environment where our people can pursue their hopes and dreams free from fear and persecution.
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