Iraq declares Halabja, scene of Saddam's gas attack on Kurds, as 19th province

Parliament passes long-delayed bill to help survivors of 1988 chemical attack that killed 5,000 Kurds

Photos of the 1988 chemical attack on Halabja were displayed during remembrance events in the city last month. AFP

Iraq’s parliament on Monday passed a long-delayed bill recognising the Kurdish city of Halabja, the scene of a chemical attack during Saddam Hussein’s rule, as the country’s 19th province.

The move is meant to improve the life of the survivors through enhanced funding and projects. The draft law was first approved by Iraq's government in 2013, but the country’s endemic political wrangling has delayed its passage. In 2014, Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region unilaterally declared Halabja as a province.

Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid, a Kurd, hailed Monday's parliamentary approval as a "historic step which is a long-overdue recognition for the city's sufferings and a positive move towards justice and honouring the martyrs". He described the victims as "those who fell in the most heinous crime known to contemporary history".

Speaking at a press conference in Erbil shortly after the vote, Halabja's acting governor Nuxsha Nasih expressed deep gratitude to those who supported the move.

“Today is a historic day for the people of Halabja,” Ms Nasih said, according to Kurdish media outlets. “We thank all those who played a role in it and we thank the President and Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region."

Mourners attending last month's commemorations for the 37th anniversary of the Halabja attack, in which about 5,000 people were killed. AFP

Halabja stands as witness to the bloody legacy of the 1980s Iraq-Iran war, which helped to shape the Middle East for 40 years, and a symbol of the suffering of Iraqi-Kurds.

Near the end of the eight-year war, Saddam ordered a chemical attack on March 16, 1988, accusing Kurdish Peshmerga forces of backing Iran. Iraq's air force rained down a deadly cocktail of chemical weapons on Halabja, killing about 5,000 Iraqi-Kurds, the majority of them women and children. The attack was part of the broader Anfal campaign in northern Iraq in which more than 182,000 Kurds were killed.

Saddam Hussein's cousin and henchman, Ali Hassan Al Majid – an infamous general better known as 'Chemical Ali' – who oversaw the attack, was hanged in 2010. During his trial, Al Majid said the attack was carried out to protect Iraq against its powerful neighbour Iran.

Saddam, overthrown in 2003 after a US-led invasion, was hanged in 2006, sentenced to death for the massacre of 148 Shiite Muslims. His death put an end to proceedings against him related to the Anfal campaign.