A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier in Kirkuk, Jun. 2014.
Spencer Platt / Getty Images
The United Nations on Tuesday released a report revealing the "staggering" levels of violence against civilians that occurred in the Iraq conflict between Jan. 1, 2014 and Oct. 31, 2015.
The UN's Assistance Mission to the country spoke to victims, survivors and witnesses of violations of international human rights or humanitarian law, and concluded that the militant group ISIS continued to commit "systemic and widespread violence" which "may, in some instances, amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide."
The UN Secretary General's Special Representative for Iraq, Ján Kubiš, said: "Despite their steady losses to pro-government forces, the scourge of ISIL continues to kill, maim and displace Iraqi civilians in the thousands and to cause untold suffering. I strongly reiterate my call to all parties to the conflict to ensure the protection of civilians from the effects of violence."
Below are just a few of the shocking figures contained in the report, which reveal the extent of the horrors faced by thousands of people faced living through conflict.
18,802 civilians have been killed in the conflict between Jan. 1, 2014 and Oct. 31 2015
Mourners attend the funeral of street vendor Moses Jafar, who was killed in a car bomb in Najaf, Nov. 2013.
Jaber Al-helo / AP
The headline figure for civilian deaths in the reporting period may already seem extremely high, but the UN's report says it may in fact be underestimating the total deah toll due to "difficulties in undertaking verification of incidents".
They said that figures provided by health authorities in the country may not be complete, and that civilians may also have died through the secondary effects of war, including lack of access to food, water and medical care.
In the period from May 1 to Oct. 31, 3,855 were reported to have died.
36,235 civilians were wounded between Jan. 1, 2014 and Oct. 31, 2015
A man injured during a suicide bombing in Mwafaqiya village near Mosul, lies in a hospital bed in Irbil, Jun. 6, 2014.
Stringer Iraq / Reuters
The UN's report said that victims of ISIS' violence, killings and abductions "include those perceived to be opposed to ISIL ideology and rule; persons affiliated with the
Government, such as former Iraqi security forces (ISF), police officers, former public officials and electoral workers; professionals, such as doctors and lawyers; journalists; and tribal and religious leaders."
Many living in areas of ISIS control "have been subjected to adjudication by ISIL self-appointed courts which, in addition to ordering the murder of countless people, have imposed grim punishments such as stoning and amputations," the report said.
1,717 were killed and 5,639 wounded by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) between May 1 and Oct. 31, 2015.
A funeral for Iraqi policemen in Najaf, south of Baghdad, Jun. 2, 2015.
Stringer Iraq / Reuters
IEDs — including body-borne (BBIED), vehicle-borne (VBIED), and
suicide vehicle-borne (SVBIED) devices — was the most deadly tactic used against civilians during the reported figures.
The rest of the civilian casualties contained in the report were attributed to shelling, air-strikes, burning, small arms fire, beheading, knife attacks, and unexploded ordnance, among tactics.
3,206,736 people were internally displaced between Jan. 1, 2014 to Sep. 29, 2015.
A woman holds a child at a temporary displacement camp in Kalak, Jun. 2014.
Dan Kitwood / Getty Images
The large number of people internally displaced in Iraq includes more than 1 million school-age girls and boys.
The vast majority (87 percent) of the total displaced people hail from three governates: Anbar (42 percent), Ninewa (32 percent) and Salah al-Din (13 percent).
Sixty-nine percent of Iraq's internally displaced people (IDPs) settled in private dwellings with host families, or in rental of other paid accommodation. However, 20 percent have been left to live in settings including unfinished and abandoned buildings, religious and school dwellings and informal settlements.
Just 8 percent of the IDPs from reporting period have settled in camps.
An estimated 439 civilians were killed in airstrikes, and hundreds more wounded
A Kurdish Peshmerga soldier passes by smoking wreckage following the battle to liberate Sinjar from ISIS, Nov. 2015.
John Moore / Getty Images
The report did not include a definitive total of civilians killed at the hands of anti-ISIS coalition airstrikes.
However, the total from the various reports, some unverified, of airstrike casualties contained within the report comes to 439 dead, with hundreds more injured.
One of the most deadly of these was an explosion caused by an airstrike in Kirkuk's Hajjwa district on Jun. 3, 2015.
A member of Kirkuk's provincial council was quoted in multiple local media sources at the time as saying 150 people died in this incident, but neither the UN or BuzzFeed News have been able to verify this.
3,500 people currently estimated as being held in sexual slavery by ISIS
Yazidi women newly released from ISIS captivity hug each other, Apr. 8, 2015.
Ako Rasheed / Reuters
The report found that ISIS continued to subject women and children to sexual violence, and especially sexual slavery.
Most of the thousands being held are women and children from the Yazidi community.
The report found instances of women being murdered by ISIS while trying to escape from captivity, and dozens of women being abducted in Sinjar to be used as sex slaves, or sold to ISIS fighters for between $500 and $2,000.
377 corpses were discovered in a single mass grave
Members of the Iraqi security forces inspect a mass grave in Tikrit, Apr. 12, 2015.
Ahmad Al-rubaye / AFP / Getty Images
The UNs report uncovered multiple mass graves in areas reclaimed by ISIS, with some dating back to uprisings against Saddam Hussein's regime in the early 1990s.
The largest grave was uncovered by Iraqi forensic teams in Basra, and dates back to the 1991 Shi'a rebellion. It is reportedly the second largest mass grave found in southern Iraq, the report said.
via BuzzFeed - World http://ift.tt/1Wr7vfi
Put the internet to work for you.
No comments:
Post a Comment