UN concerned over lack of protection for civilians

Lack of protection for innocent civilians in Iraq and deficiencies in the administration of justice continue to be major challenges to the authorities in the war-ravaged country, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said. In a report on the human rights situation in Iraq for the period July-August, UNAMI said corpses had appeared regularly in and around the capital, Baghdad and other areas. Most had signs of torture and appeared to be victims of extrajudicial killings. "There is continuing concern over the lack of protection of basic human rights," Ashraf Qazi, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq, said. "Each Iraqi citizen should enjoy the rights and protections stipulated in international treaties and agreements that Iraq has ratified," he added. Released on Thursday, the report said there were serious allegations of extra-judicial executions taking place which underlined a deterioration in the situation of law and order. "The bodies of 36 men, blindfolded, handcuffed, bearing signs of torture and summarily executed, were found on 25 August near Badhra [Wassit governorate]," it noted. Families of the victims, it added, reported to UNAMI’s human rights office that the men were detained on 24 August in the al-Hurria district of Baghdad "following an operation carried out by forces linked to the Ministry of Interior". A similar incident had earlier been reported to the human rights office involving 11 males who were "allegedly detained by forces linked to the Ministry of Interior on 10 July in [the] Seba’ Abkar district of Baghdad and who were found dead three days later at the Medico Legal Institute". UNAMI also said it had received "consistent reports of excessive use of force with regard to persons and property as well as mass arrests carried out by Iraqi police and special forces". Reports of ill-treatment of detainees and inadequacies in judicial procedures had continued, the report added. First and second-hand accounts from Baghdad, Basra in the south, Kirkuk and the northern Kurdish governorates, it said, consistently pointed to systematic use of torture during interrogations at police stations and within other premises belonging to the Ministry of Interior. "It is expected that all allegations of human rights violations will be investigated and the results of such investigations be made public," UNAMI said. The report published by the UNAMI’s human rights office, also said there was growing concern about special security operations in central and northern areas, which had resulted in population displacement. It also expressed concern over mass detentions, the application of the death penalty, the continued broadcast of "unlawful" television programmes and protection of minority rights. UNAMI said its human rights office would from now publish the results of its activities on a bi-monthly basis, with the next report on the September-October period expected in early November. The report is available at: www.uniraq.org