Iraq third on list of failing to protect citizens from abuse

IRAQ HAS been castigated in three human rights reports for failing to protect its citizens from a range of attacks and abuse. They have been issued as Iraqi politicians are under pressure to stop stalling the formation of a government by challenging the results of the March 7th parliamentary election.

The Minority Rights Group placed Iraqis third on a list of people most under threat, after Somalis and Darfuris and ahead of Afghans. The plight of Iraqi civilians was elaborated by Amnesty International in a 28-page report, Iraq: Civilians Under Fire, which blamed the largest number of fatalities on bombings mounted by the Sunni Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella grouping of local jihadi groups affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Since last August, co-ordinated attacks by these groups, opponents of the US occupation and the Shia-dominated government, have killed more than 850 people, including 163 since the beginning of this month.

“Civilians . . . are also being targeted by political militias, most of them linked to Shia political parties represented in the Iraqi parliament,” Amnesty said.

Shia and Sunni groups with an “extremist” socio-religious agenda are creating a “climate of fear”, forcing Iraqis to “adapt their lives in the hope of avoiding attack”.

Members of the small ancient Christian, Sabean-Mandaean and Yezidi communities are forced to disguise their identities. Women and girls are compelled to wear the hijab (headscarf), women are killed by relatives and militiamen for violating strict codes of behaviour and gay men for their sexual orientation. Human rights defenders, women’s rights campaigners, journalists and political activists are abducted and murdered.

Many of 2.7 million internally displaced Iraqis not only “face economic hardship and lack of basic services” but also endure eviction from temporary shelter, bombings and shootings. Exiles returning to their homes are targeted. No score is kept of these fatalities.

Community, political and religious leaders have failed to prevent such attacks and bring perpetrators to justice. Some even incite violence. A climate of impunity prevails and has been “entrenched by the involvement of the authorities themselves in numerous incidents of intimidation of and attacks on critics, including journalists reporting on alleged corruption and misconduct by officials”.

Human Rights Watch said it provided proof of the complicity of the authorities by documenting allegations that detainees were tortured in a secret prison operated by prime minister Nuri al-Maliki’s military office and private militia.

Human Rights Watch interviewed 42 men of the 430 originally held at the facility and provided detailed testimony about beatings, rape, electric shock and threats to family members.

Expressing concern that violence could escalate in a political vacuum, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton urged Iraqi politicians to “speedily” form a new government. Washington is determined to withdraw 50,000 combat troops from Iraq by the end of August.

Iyad Allawi, whose Iraqiya bloc came first by winning 91 seats in the 325-member assembly, has called for the formation of an impartial caretaker government to maintain order and prevent alteration of the election results.

Determined to retain the top job, Mr Maliki, whose State of Law bloc took 89 seats, has admitted his intention of doing just this. He ordered the arrest of one Iraqiya winner, secured a recount in Baghdad and prompted the deBaathification panel, responsible for banning members of the outlawed Baath party, to exclude 52 candidates, including at least one winner from Iraqiya.