Mesopotamian Marshlands: An Ecocide Case
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ESSAY
Mesopotamian Marshlands: An Ecocide Case
MISHKAT AL MoUm[N*
I. INTRODUCTION
Environmental injustice is not limited to industrialized nations in Europe and
North America. The destruction of Mesopotamian marshlands by Saddam Hus-
sein's regime with the intent to kill the Marsh Arabs exemplifies a particularly
severe form of environmental injustice: the destruction of the Mesopotamian
marshlands is a case of Ecocide. I define Ecocide as taking a deliberate action to
kill a group of people based on their race, religion, or culture by destroying the
ecosystem on which they depend.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) recognized the Meso-
potamian marshlands as the most extensive wetland ecosystem in the Middle
East and Western Eurasia.1 Beyond their ecological significance to the region, the
marshlands provided a unique home to the Marsh Arabs. The Marsh Arabs were
an indigenous community of perhaps 500,000 Arabs, mostly of Shiite ethnicity,2
that inhabited the Mesopotamian marshlands. The Marsh Arab culture was
heavily based on the marshland ecosystem: Marsh Arabs built their houses from
reeds; they used canoes to move; and fishing provided their main source of
income. Because of their adaptation to marshland dwelling, Marsh Arabs never
developed farming practices or large urban communities.
Saddam's regime wanted to kill the Marsh Arabs in order to make sure that
opponents of his regime could not use the Marsh Arab's knowledge of marshland
navigation. Merely killing the Marsh Arabs without destroying the marshlands
* Adjunct Professor, George Mason University. Dr. Al Moumin served as the first Minister of the
Environment in Iraq from 2004-2005. She holds a masters degree and Ph.D. in public international law from the
University of Baghdad and earned a masters degree in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School
of Government at Harvard University. © 2008, Mishkat Al Moumin.
1. U.N. ENvIRONMENT PROoRAmmE, DESK STUDY ON THE ENViRONmENr IN IRAQ 39 (2003), available at
http://postconflict.unep.ch/publications/IraqDS.pdf [hereinafter UNEP DESK STUDY].
2. Muslim people in Iraq are primarily divided into two sects: Shiite, at 60% of the population and Sunni, a
minority of 15%. The Shiite majority was excluded from the process of decision making beginning in 1920 due
to the fear that they would cooperate with Iran, which has a Shiite majority. Although Sunni people are a
minority in Iraq, they have ruled exclusively since 1921. Saddam's regime persecuted the Shiite majority to
make sure that they would not seek power.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/gintenlr20&div=22&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Mesopotamian Marshlands: An Ecocide Case
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