Thursday, 2 October 2014

Islamic State committing systematic human rights violations - UN report

The report, based on 500 interviews, revealed systematic violations since IS began its advance across Iraq in July
3 October 2014, 8:30am

A United Nations report has provided new evidence of what it calls a staggering list of human rights abuses by Islamic State militants in Iraq.

It revealed systematic violations carried out since IS began its advance across Iraq in July.

The report, based on 500 interviews, provides evidence of mass executions, the kidnapping of women and girls to use as sex slaves, and the use of child soldiers.

The report detailed how Iraqi police officers, soldiers and journalists had been killed in a series of mass executions.

It said religious and ethnic communities had been surrounded and starved of food and water, while women and girls had been abducted as sex slaves and children used as soldiers.

The UN said the violations might amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.

It also found the Iraqi government had caused "significant civilian deaths" when its air strikes on the Sunni Muslim militants hit villages, a school and hospitals in violation of international law.

The UN report said at least 9,347 civilians had been killed and 17,386 wounded in the nine months to September - half of them since the IS insurgents started seizing large parts of northern Iraq in early June - and 1.8 million Iraqis had been forced to flee their homes.

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