THE HAGUE -- Diplomats gathered here last week to advance the worldwide elimination of chemical weapons could see living examples of the importance of their work every time they entered the conference hall (see GSN, March 19, 2007).
Esmaeil Jamali and Aliakbar Allafzadeh said they were both exposed to gas attacks while serving in the Iranian military during their nation's war with Iraq. Last week they told their stories -- and displayed the marks of their injuries -- to passing delegates and others just outside the meeting rooms for the second review conference of the Chemical Weapons Convention (see GSN, April 11).
The two men came to The Hague with representatives from several organizations dedicated to advocacy for Iranian chemical weapons victims. The groups set up large informational displays with graphic photographs of injured children and adult victims, pamphlets, booklets and DVDs.
"All of the people in the world should know we are the victims, how much we are suffering," Jamali said through an interpreter.
Jamali was a four-year veteran of the Iran-Iraq war in January 1986 when his regiment prepared to cross the Arvand River, which serves as a border between the two countries. During an Iraqi air strike, a rocket dropped about 5 meters from his position but did not explode. Instead, it began emitting smoke.
"I smelled a very bad smell and I knew it was a chemical weapon," Jamali said.
Artillery fire prevented the soldiers from fleeing the area for four hours. Even with a gas mask, Jamali said he became nauseous, had trouble breathing and suffered from burning eyes and skin. He lost consciousness and was almost taken to the morgue before being shipped to a field hospital and ultimately to Europe for more than eight months of treatment.
Jamali said his health has never fully recovered. He has persistent respiratory problems and is blind in one eye and has only 50 percent vision in the other. While at the conference he and Allafzadeh at times wore surgical masks, and a hacking cough frequently prevented Jamali from speaking.
Following its defeat in the first Gulf War, Iraq said that between 1982 and 1990 it produced nearly 4,000 tons of warfare materials such as mustard blister agent and the nerve agents sarin, tabun and VX. U.N. monitors oversaw the destruction of Iraq's chemical weapons infrastructure and no evidence of active programs was found following the March 2003 invasion (see GSN, April 8).
Iraqi chemical strikes killed or injured a total of 100,000 Iranian soldiers and civilians during the Iran-Iraq War, one official told the New York Times in 2003. Up to 6,000 required continuing medical care 15 years after the end of the war.
In a statement at the conference, the Iranian Society of Chemical Weapons Victims Support posed several questions for the international diplomats in attendance. The group said it wanted to know to what level Iraq received material from other nations for its chemical weapons program; why there has been more publicity for Iraqi chemical attacks on that nation's Kurds than on Iran; why the strikes receive minimal attention in literature published by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the treaty's verification body; and why former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was never charged with "a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law" before being put to death for crimes against his own people (see GSN, Jan. 3, 2007).
"So far there is no response," said Rezvan Khajeh Salehani, international relations director for the Martyrs and Veterans Affairs Foundation.
OPCW chief Rogelio Pfirter met with representatives from the Iranian organizations last week.
"As to how OPCW publications address the history of the 1980-88 war and Iraq's use of CWs against Iranians and Iraqi Kurds, I've personally discussed the issue at length with various Iranian representatives including SCWVS and given assurances their sensitivities and point of view will be respected in all our publications," OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan said by e-mail.
The statement called on Iran to provide money and medical resources for chemical weapons victims and appealed to the international community for similar support. Such aid would be a matter for treaty members, Luhan said.
Iran at this and previous treaty meetings has pushed for creation of a "Chemical Weapons Victim's International Funding and Assistance Network." Acting U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Donald Mahley told Arms Control Today that such assistance might be best provided by humanitarian organizations.
In an interview with Global Security Newswire, Salehani did not appear inclined to press the issues included in the statement. He and Jamali said they were more intent on showing the results of chemical warfare.
"These things should never happen anywhere," Salehani said.