Ahwazi Source
1 Beaton Close
London
SE15 5GX
email: ahwazisource@gmail.com
Register number: 13356645, UK
Ahwazi Source word for Agenda Item 2:
During the past three decades, Iran built dozens of dams and tunnels to transfer water of
Ahwaz rivers to the central plateau of Iran. These projects disrupted the lives of thousands of
Ahwazi families and displaced them forcefully.
The complete drying up of Karkhe River, the drilling of 100s oil wells in the Al-edaim wetland
and the complete drying of this wetland to facilitate the extraction of oil from the Azadegan oil
field, stopped the existence of thousands of Arab families around the wetland, and these
families were forcibly displaced.
The life of the indigenous people of Al-ediam marshland has been formed around the existence
of this marshland for thousands of years. Drying this marshland without the consent of the
indigenous residents is considered a massive violation of the rights of the indigenous people.
Thousands of families living in the villages of Dabiya, Hascheh, Luliyeh, Ume, Kasr, Macharia,
Muhaira, Siydiyah, Abu Chalach, Meshimshiyeh, Jarayeh, Tabar, Shat Ali, Zahirieh, Bargeh, and
Bars and other villages were forcibly displaced by the government and a unique indigenous
community, called “Mea’dan” with a lifetime of several thousands of years was completely
abolished.
In the southern part of Ahwaz region, in Abbadan and its surroundings, millions of palm trees
died due to the decrease of more than 70% of the water entering the region, and thousands of
Arab farmers were unemployed and forced to evacuate their villages and migrate.
In the cities, systematic discrimination against Arab people is practiced in a much stronger
sense than in the past, and an unemployment ban against Arab people has been implemented
in all governmental organizations. To find employment many Arabs have changed their names
to Persian mainstream names to appear as non-Arabs to the employers. Meanwhile, the
government has hired thousands of employees from outside the province and relocated them
with their families to Ahwaz to change the demographics of this region.
The storage of water behind the dams has created a dangerous environmental and health crisis
in this province, and the number of cancer cases has increased more than five times in the last
three decades and several thousands of Ahwazi people die every year due to air, soil, and water
pollution.
We demand the government of Iran to recognize the property rights of the indigenous Arab
people of Ahwaz. We ask united nations not to allow the Iranian government to destroy the
communities of the indigenous Arabs through managing or completely cutting off the water
and through land confiscations. Also beware that the lives of tens of thousands of the