HALABJAH, Iraq, March 17 (UPI) -- The primary researcher into the chemical attack on the Iraqi town of Halabjah spoke of the importance to keep its memory alive on the event's 20th anniversary.

Joost Hiltermann served with Human Rights Watch to examine the al-Anfal campaign by the Saddam Hussein regime. The Iraqi military, under the direction of Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali," killed scores of Kurdish civilians and guerrillas using biological and chemical weapons as part of a crackdown against uprisings in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Hiltermann noted that the event is only now beginning to surface as an international awareness issue but said in an interview Sunday with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that "it is very important that the memory of these events be kept alive."

The al-Anfal campaign was the first chemical weapons attack that deliberately targeted civilian populations, Hiltermann said, calling it "an act of genocide that also is relatively unknown in the world."

He noted that "there's absolutely no evidence of birth defects resulting from the use of chemical weapons in 1988" but pointed to long-term health consequences and the lingering effects on the community as having a sustained impact.

The lack of justice and accountability of such acts was also a matter of contention.

"I would say that if justice is not done to ... ensure that people who committed these acts are punished appropriately, then there is no effective deterrent."

The Iraqi Presidential Council said in February they removed the blockade on the execution of Majid, suggesting it could happen "in a matter of days."