ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The office of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Coordinator for International Advocacy released a response yesterday to the US State Department’s (USSD) annual human rights report for 2018, published in March.
The “KRG has a strong willingness to enhance its governance practice and the situation of human rights in the Kurdistan Region in line with internationally-accepted standards,” said Dindar Zebari, the KRG’s Coordinator for International Advocacy.
The State Department’s report raised multiple concerns over continued human rights violations in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.
The KRG set up a high committee to investigate cases of Peshmerga abuses that had largely been committed against internally displaced persons (IDPs). However, the USSD cited reports from human rights organizations that questioned the credibility of the investigations. “Impunity effectively existed for government officials and security force personnel, including the ISF, Federal Police, PMF, Peshmerga, and KRG Asayesh internal security services”, said the report.
“Torturing detainees for forced confession is completely and utterly prohibited by the KRG”, said Zebari.
Zebari attributed “the low number of committees” that have been formed to investigate torture cases was because “such complaints have not been raised from the detainees themselves”, referencing an article in the Iraqi Penal code that supports the right of defendants to file a complaint against abuse.
The KRG has faced accusations of ill-treatment of prisoners previously. A report released by Human Rights Watch in March, entitled “Everyone Must Confess”, highlighted instances of mistreatment of juvenile detainees by the Asayesh.
Zebari had responded similarly then, saying, “all forms of torture and ill treatment of detainees are prohibited" adding that "the practice of ill treatment is generally rare in the Kurdistan Region's detention facilities."
In his response to the USSD report, Zebari maintained that the Kurdistan Region had remained a safe haven for people seeking shelter, Zebari said, “even after reaching its full capacities, going through a major economic crisis, ISIL attacks, [and] receiving inadequate international humanitarian financial support”.
Since the beginning of the conflict against ISIS in 2014, the KRG has hosted 1.8 million IDPs and over 200,000 refugees from Syria. Around 98 percent of Syrians that fled to Iraq, have sought refuge in the Kurdistan Region.
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