“Every day we receive accounts of a terrible litany of human rights violations being committed in Iraq against ordinary Iraqi children, women and men, who have been deprived of their security, their livelihoods, their homes, education, healthcare and other basic services,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.
“The deliberate or indiscriminate targeting of civilians, the killing of civilians, the use of civilians as shields, the hindering of access for civilians to humanitarian assistance may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity," she added.
At least 5,576 Iraqi civilians have been killed this year in violence, the UN said in the most detailed account yet of the impact of months of unrest culminating in advances by the Takfiri terrorist group.
The new report says that June, which marked the escalation of the offensive by ISIL elements, has been the most chaotic, with a conservative estimate of more than 1,500 people killed and more than 600,000 displaced from their homes, half of the total number of internal Iraqi refugees.
According to the report, among the atrocities committed by the group is the execution of 480 Shia inmates in Badush prison in the newly-captured city of Mosul on June 10, which turned so bloody “that some detainees were able to flee and others survived by pretending to be dead under the bodies of other detainees.”
"ISIL and associated armed groups have also continued to... perpetrate targeted assassinations (community, political, and religious leaders, government employees, education professionals, health workers, etc.), sexual assault, rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls, forced recruitment of children, kidnappings, executions and robberies," says the new report.
The UN report further states, “ISIL (ISIS) and associated armed groups have carried out many of these attacks in a systematic manner heedless of the impact on civilians, or have systematically targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure with the intention of killing and wounding as many civilians as possible. Targets have included markets, restaurants, shops, cafes, playgrounds, schools, places of worship and other public spaces where civilians gather in large numbers.”
The report also blames the Takfiri terrorists for wanton destruction and plundering of places of worship and of cultural or historical significance.
The UN noted that the "deteriorating security situation" had limited its ability to directly monitor and verify incidents. More than 1.2 million people had been displaced this year, according to the report.
NTJ/MB