Civilians continue to suffer from violence, displacement, UN

Hundreds of Iraqi civilians were killed in September and October, while large parts of Iraq continue to experience a general breakdown of law and order, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) noted in its latest report on the state of human rights in the war-ravaged nation. “Random killings and terrorism have claimed hundreds of lives and injured many others, including children, in several parts of the country,” the report stated. According to UNAMI, over 30,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the beginning of the US-led war in March 2003. The report, which focused primarily on the period between 1 September and 31 October of this year, noted that more than 10,000 civilians had been displaced in September alone. Most of these were from the western province of Anbar and the northern province of Nineveh, where ongoing fighting between Iraqi insurgents and coalition forces remains heaviest. The report went on to note that hundreds of civilians had been killed and/or injured as a result of random terrorist attacks, targeted assassinations and extrajudicial executions by unknown assailants. Officials from the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights, however, say the figures cited in the report are exaggerated. “If there were civilian causalities and displacement, it was the result of military operations aimed at realising security and peace,” said Saleh Ahmed, a senior ministry official. “And most of the civilian causalities have not been proven.” Some local NGOs, conversely, have suggested that the numbers of dead and displaced cited in the report could, in fact, be much higher. The UNAMI report also mentions the large number of detainees currently being held by Coalition forces in military prisons throughout the country. “The overall number of detainees continued to increase due to mass arrests carried out in security and military operations,” it stated. Ahmed conceded that there were large, if indeterminate, numbers of Iraqi prisoners in custody, many of whom had been held for months without interrogation. The ministry estimates that Coalition forces are currently holding some 1,560 prisoners out of a total of 23,394 detainees in the country being being held by the Iraqi government. Again, however, local NGOs suspect these numbers to be considerably higher. “We think the number is much greater, as these prisoners only represent the ones who sought our help,” said Abdul Rahman Qussay, spokesperson for the Iraqi Organisation for Prisoners. On Monday, US-led forces and the Iraqi army launched an operation in the city of Dowr, some 150 km north of the capital, Baghdad. According to local witnesses, Iraqi soldiers used torture in some cases to obtain information from residents. The UNAMI report noted that, “Massive security operations by the Iraqi police and US Special Forces continue to disregard instructions announced in August 2005 by the Interior Ministry aimed at safeguarding individuals during search-and-detention operations.” No one from the public affairs department of the Multinational Forces in Iraq was immediately available to comment. In related news, this week also saw allegations of abuse against Iraqi prisoners by US-backed Iraqi security forces. The US State Department responded to the claims by saying it would launch an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of more than 170 detainees currently being held in Baghdad.