25 October 2016
Spokespeople for the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights: Rupert Colville on Iraq, Ravina Shamdasani on South Sudan
Location:
Geneva
Subject: (1)
Iraq
(2)
South Sudan
(1) Iraq
We continue to receive reports of depredations –
including extrajudicial killings and summary executions – against children and
women, as well as male civilians, by ISIL as Iraqi Government forces close in
on Mosul. We also continue to receive information that reinforces the belief
that ISIL are deliberately using civilians as human shields – forcing them to
move to sites where ISIL fighters are based, or preventing them from leaving
other places for strategic reasons.
It is however hard to immediately verify all the reports
we are getting, so the following examples should be treated as preliminary and
not definitive.
Human rights staff in Iraq have been informed that ISIL
killed 15 civilians in a village called Safina, around 45 kilometres south of
Mosul City, and threw their bodies in the river, apparently in an attempt to
spread terror among the other residents. On the afternoon of 19 October, in the
same village, ISIL reportedly tied six civilians to a vehicle by their hands
and dragged them around the village, apparently simply because they were
related to a particular tribal leader fighting against ISIL alongside Iraqi
Government forces. The six men were also allegedly beaten with sticks and gun
butts. It is not clear what happened to them subsequently.
The following day, 20 October, Iraqi security forces
reportedly discovered the bodies of 70 civilians inside houses in Tuloul Naser
Village which is located in the same sub-district, some 35 kilometres south of
Mosul City. The bodies had bullet wounds, but it is not known for sure at this
point who was responsible for the killings.
On Saturday, 22 October, ISIL fighters are reported to
have shot dead three women and three children – all girls -- and wounded a
further four children from a village called Rufeila in the al-Qayyarah
sub-district, which also lies to the south of Mosul. The victims were allegedly
shot because they were trailing some 100 meters behind a group of other people
from the same village who were being forced by ISIL to relocate to another
sub-district. The victims were lagging behind because one of the children had a
disability. She was apparently amongst those shot and killed.
On Sunday, members of ISIL are reported to have killed 50 former Iraqi
Police Officers they had been holding in a building outside Mosul City.
We very much fear that these will not be the last such
reports we receive of such barbaric acts by ISIL, and repeat our call on
Government forces and their allies to ensure their fighters do not take revenge
on any of the civilians who escape from areas under ISIL control, and treat all
suspected ISIL fighters they capture in accordance with international
humanitarian law.
We are also concerned by the severe measures the
authorities in Kirkuk have been taking against internally displaced people
living in the city, following the surprise ISIL attacks carried out there last
Friday (21 October). In the morning of
23 October 2016, the Security Committee of Kirkuk Governorate and Asayish
Forces issued a decision – with immediate effect – ordering all internally
displaced people who have been living outside camps in Kirkuk, to vacate their
residences by 8:00 a.m. the following day – i.e. yesterday morning. The order specifies that if IDPs do not
comply with the order and deadline set for the eviction, they will be compelled
by force to vacate their residences which would then be demolished. The only
option given to those who wish to stay in the Kirkuk area is to move into
established camps which are either already full or very close to full.
We understand that hundreds of families have now been
evicted by Kurdish Security Forces, and are worried that if the evictions
continue, it could significantly complicate the already alarming situation of
mass displacement in the region.
While fully understanding the authorities’ security
concerns in the wake of the murderous ISIL attacks, such evictions should be
reasonable and only carried out as a last resort when no other alternative is
available. Any such decision should be proportional, and not based on any discriminatory
basis. Adequate alternatives should be fully in place, with preparations and
consultations taking place prior to any such evictions, so that the displaced
people – who have already suffered a great deal – are not further victimized
because of the actions of ISIL, over whom they obviously have no control or
influence whatsoever.
(2) South Sudan
The High Commissioner is gravely concerned about the
alarming rise in hate speech and incitement to violence against certain ethnic
groups in South Sudan in recent weeks. Letters with graphic warnings of
violence against Equatorians have been left outside the offices of several
humanitarian organisations in Aweil West in Northern Bahr el Ghazal, in the
north-western part of the country. Ethnic Dinka youth groups have issued
warnings to Equatorians that they will be “eliminated”.
The threats emerged in reaction to the killing of an
unconfirmed number of Dinka civilians travelling to Juba by bus on 8 October.
In another incident, on 10 October, armed men allegedly attacked three buses
carrying civilians from Juba to Kampala on the Juba-Nimule road. Civilians were
reportedly taken to the bush and robbed of their possessions, and at least one
bus was set on fire by the attackers. Calls to avenge these attacks circulated
widely on social media and led to fears amongst the Equatorian population of
revenge killings across the country.
We welcome the press statement issued by the Acting
Governor of Aweil State, in which he called on all citizens to “join the
government in condemnation of these alleged threats directed towards our
Equatorian brothers and sisters.” We urge political and community leaders to
take all possible measures to prevent an escalation of violence along ethnic
lines. The High Commissioner warns that the delicate situation in South Sudan
makes the hateful rhetoric between Dinkas and Equatorians highly dangerous, and
this could result in mass atrocities if not reined in. Attacks against
civilians must be promptly and thoroughly investigated and perpetrators held
individually responsible for their crimes, not least to avoid a cycle of
revenge attacks between entire communities.
A press release by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein will follow later in the day.
ENDS
For more information and media requests, please contact
Rupert Colville (+41 22 917 9767 / rcolville@ohchr.org) or Ravina Shamdasani
(+41 22 917 9169 / rshamdasani@ohchr.org )
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