Iraq’s humanitarian crisis is worsening and the plight of millions of displaced Iraqis is critical, says a grim United Nations report on human rights in the war-torn country that was released on Thursday.
”Daily life for the average Iraqi civilian remains extremely precarious,” said the human rights report of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (Unami), released in Baghdad, which covers the three months to the end of June.
”The violence remains in large part indiscriminate, targeting public places where large numbers of people gather, to inflict maximum casualties and foment fears of further descent into chaos and loss of any semblance of state control,” it said.
Most of it is focused in Baghdad, but cities such as Mosul in the north and Basra in the south had also been shaken by violence, while the situation in some provinces such as Diyala, adjoining Baghdad, ”remained dire”.
”As in the past, civilians bore the brunt of the violence, with casualties being reported on a daily basis in Baghdad and elsewhere. Both Iraqi law enforcement personnel and [United States-led forces] also continued to suffer casualties as a result of attacks by insurgency groups.”
UN spokesperson in Iraq Said Arikat, releasing the report at a news conference, said the Iraqi government was faced with ”relentless violence, continued opposition to its authority and a rapidly worsening humanitarian crisis”.
It appeared powerless to prevent the situation from deteriorating further.
”The government needs to adopt urgent measures to address the deteriorating human rights situation, including in the rule of law sector,” Arikat added.
”The pace of arrests has exceeded the authorities’ ability to ensure adequate judicial oversight for the detainee population”, which at the end of June stood at 44 325 pre-trial and convicted prisoners.
Arikat acknowledged that the situation in the period July to September, which will be analysed in Unami’s next report, has seen ”some improvements”.
He added, however, that there was no way of verifying government and US military claims that the violence levels had dropped and that civilian deaths were down. The reason was that Iraqi authorities had failed to provide their mortality figures and data to Unami ”despite repeated requests”.
”We have no way of verifying these claims,” Arikat said. ”But we can surmise maybe that there is some ebbing of violence, but on the other hand we can also see a pendulum effect … In recent days we have seen an upswing.
”We look at the violence in Baghdad and we may see an ebb in one area but then we can also see a rise in another area. It is known as the hydraulic effect.”
Ivana Vaco, UN human rights officer, told the news conference that there had been some discernible changes in the human rights situation in recent months.
”There is a continuation of torture and extra-judicial killings,” she said.
”But this is not to say there hasn’t been improvement. The government of Iraq, the Kurdistan regional government and the [US military] have taken measures which we wholeheartedly welcome,” added Vaco, pointing for example to a commitment by the government to speed up the process of assessing detainees.
”A lot remains to be done but some things are being done,” she added.
The report also highlighted the plight of 2,2-million Iraqis who have fled Iraq and more than two million who are displaced within Iraq.
Most faced hardships such as lack of food, housing, employment and access to healthcare.
Arikat, who has just returned from a tour of some camps for displaced Iraqis within the country, said that the situation was deteriorating.
”The camps are appalling, there is not enough shelter or water or food. The situation is critical and worsening,” he said. — AFP
