Since last month, the monitoring group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has been asking Iraqi authorities numerous times to conduct a transparent and serious investigation into reports of killings, abduction, and torture of Sunni residents of Fallujah allegedly carried out by Shia militias and federal police forces during the operation to retake the city from Islamic State (ISIS).
“Serious investigations and prosecutions are essential to provide justice to victims and their families, and to deter atrocities by government forces,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director of HRW in a July 7 press release.
When reports of abuse first came to light, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi promised to take action and punish those involved in the Fallujah abuses but the government does not appear to have taken any concrete steps as of yet.
HRW is quite concerned about how the investigation going so far, who is conducting it and what powers the investigators have. The group would also like information on whether the investigation will be based on Iraqi civilian or military law.
The organization that documented killings, enforced disappearances, and torture in Fallujah is looking for answers of those questions and want the Iraqi authorities make public the conclusions of the investigations.
HRW warned that the failure to conduct a full investigation into Fallujah will have an impact on the Mosul battle. “Failing to hold fighters and commanders accountable for grave abuses bodes very badly for the looming battle for Mosul,” said Stork.
The organization also asked the US government to fully acknowledge the abuses done by its allied Iraqi forces.
“The US government needs to fully acknowledge and address the widespread, ongoing abuses by Iraqi government forces and the near complete absence of transparent investigations or any investigations at all,” Stork said.
He also criticized the US government for praising the Iraqi government’s commitment to conduct an investigation without following through. “The US should not be praising the government’s rhetorical commitment to accountability when there is zero information indicating that any such thing is happening,” he added.
Last month, US special envoy to the anti-ISIS coalition Brett McGurk, described the reports of abuse and violations in Fallujah as “isolated atrocities committed by some of the Popular Mobilization Forces” and said the Iraqi government was “doing the right thing to make sure that anyone who commits a human rights violation is held to account.”
The UN human rights commission also asked the Iraqi government to take serious action against such abuses in order to ensure such atrocities do not happen again in future battles. “The Prime Minister of Iraq has set up an investigation committee into the disappearances, which I obviously support. But I believe the authorities have to take strong and immediate action to locate the missing men or ascertain precisely what happened to them” said Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights.
The commissioner, like HRW officials, is concerned about the impact the investigation into Fallujah will have on the Mosul battle. He asked that Iraqi forces should bear in mind that those who are living under ISIS rule have not necessarily joined the militant group.
“With a massive and prolonged battle for Mosul just around the corner, the potential for episodes like this to stiffen ISIL’s [ISIS] resistance should not be underestimated,” the High Commissioner said. “There must be an understanding that most of the male inhabitants of these cities are not willing members of ISIL, nor do they necessarily have anything to do with them at all beyond doing what is necessary to stay alive. People who escape from ISIL should be treated with sympathy and respect, not tortured and killed simply on the basis of their gender and where they had the misfortune to be living when ISIL arrived.”
Many reports of abuse, torture, abductions, and killings of civilian men from the Sunni city at the hands of the Shiite militias participating in the military operation emerged as Iraqi forces marched into Fallujah, routing ISIS from the city. Some 650 civilian residents of the city and surrounding areas disappeared and their whereabouts remain unknown.
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