Dr Sulaiman Tameer and animal welfare in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

That this House commends the determination of Dr Sulaiman Tameer, a vet from Duhok and founder of the Kurdistan Organization for Animal Rights Protection, to advance animal welfare legislation, as recently detailed by Joanne Stocker-Kelly for the Guardian newspaper; notes growing political support for him in the Kurdistan Region, which lacks a ban, for instance, on dog fighting and any standards for slaughterhouses; further notes that Dr Tameer’s proposals echo the UK’s animal welfare principles of upholding protection from hunger and thirst, discomfort; pain, injury or disease, the freedom to express normal behaviour, and freedom from fear and distress; and believes that Dr Tameer’s pioneering work illustrates the willingness, in difficult circumstances, of the Kurdistan Region to overcome various legacies of its past.