In a report released on Tuesday, the United Nations has described the violence in Iraq as ‘staggering’ as almost 19,000 civilians have been killed and more than 36,000 wounded since the begining of 2014.
UN report: “The violence suffered by civilians in Iraq remains staggering.” https://t.co/tBWBbocFF0 pic.twitter.com/rydpGA8bnt
— NPR (@NPR) January 19, 2016
The report, which was jointly written by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights detailed a large number of atrocities committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
The report also caled on the Iraqi government to do more to tackle sectarian violence and to help displaced families to return to their original homes.
#UN report released today details the severe & extensive impact on civilians of the ongoing conflict in #Iraq – https://t.co/hXnXvJLJKH
— UNAMI (@UNIraq) January 19, 2016
The report is based on interviews with displaced Iraqi citizens and witnesses, survivors and victims of the described rights abuses. Some of the details included shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning alive and throwing people off the top of buildings.
“The violence suffered by civilians in Iraq remains staggering. The so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’ (ISIL) continues to commit systematic and widespread violence and abuses of international human rights law and humanitarian law. These acts may, in some instances, amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide,”
The report does not just state crimes committed by ISIL, it also documents alleged human rights and international humanitarian law abuses by Iraqi Security Forces and associated forces, including militia and tribal forces, popular mobilization units, and Peshmerga.
