UN says ISIL abuses in Iraq may amount to genocide

A new UN report has documented widespread human rights violations committed in Iraq between September and December last year.

The report, produced jointly by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, was released on Monday and details abuses committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

It says that between September 11 and December 10, at least 165 executions were carried out following sentences “by so called ‘courts’ in ISIL-controlled areas”.

“Members of Iraq’s diverse ethnic and religious communities, including Turkmen, Shabaks, Christians, Yezidi, Sabaeans, Kaka’e, Faili Kurds, Arab Shi’a, and others have been intentionally and systematically targeted by ISIL and associated armed groups and subjected to gross human rights abuses, in what appears as a deliberate policy aimed at destroying, suppressing or expelling these communities permanently from areas under their control,” the report says.

“Many of the violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide.”

The report also details violations committed by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and affiliated armed groups.

“Armed groups claiming to be affiliated to or supporting the Government also perpetrated targeted killings, including of captured fighters from ISIL and its associated armed groups, abductions of civilians, and other abuses,” the report says.

At least 11,602 civilians were killed and 21,766 wounded in 2014, according to the UN.

The UN recently reported that January was one of Iraq’s deadliest months in years, with 1,375 people killed and 2,240  wounded in acts of “terrorism or violence”.