On February 22, 2022, the Iraqi Centre for Documentation of Crimes of Extremism in  The al-Abbas’s holy shrine joined forces with the UNESCO Chair at the University of Kufa and the Grand Mullah Centre of the University of Kweh in Iraqi Kurdistan to organize the second  Forum on “Mass Graves in Iraq: Investigation, Exploration, and Documentation Mechanisms.”

The Forum was held at the Faculty of Arts/University of Kufa and witnessed two interactive sessions in which researchers presented research papers on mass graves in Iraq. 

Representatives from the Palestinian Embassy in Iraq, including Palestinian Ambassador to Iraq Ahmed Akeel, attended an event alongside  members of Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Martyrs Foundation, and civil society organizations.

During this meeting, Dr Abbas al-Qurayshi, Director of the Iraqi Centre for the Documentation of Extremist Crimes, explained that this second Forum was valuable to the first specialized Forum. He also states, The centre’s goal is to document all violations committed against Iraqis, and they have a detailed plan to achieve this.

According to Professor Hoshyar Zaki Hassan, a member of the Grand Mullah Center, the purpose of this Forum is to exchange knowledge in documenting atrocities committed against Iraqis, and the focus is on sharing experiences in the documentation field.

During the Forum, Dr Tahsin Fadil, a representative of the UNESCO Chair, announced the creation of a set of recommendations. The most crucial of these suggestions include the formation of committees to oversee the implementation of Forum recommendations in cooperation with pertinent organizations. He urged the relevant authorities to employ specialized legal committees to have genocide in the curricula .

The Forum included honoured several victims of mass graves in the time of the regime’s defunct regime and extremist groups.

Translated into English by Shaima Adnan.