Urgent need for protection of civilians in Iraq
Following the advance of the Islamic State (IS, formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham - ISIS) fighters into towns and villages in northern Iraq since June, hundreds of thousands of people belonging to religious minorities as well as other groups have been forced to leave their homes.
On 2 August the forces of the IS took over Sinjar, in the north of Iraq. Since then, thousands of civilians from Sinjar and its environs, mainly belonging to the Yezidi community, havefled the area and are seeking refuge in other areas, especially the KRG and Syria, after having been stranded for days in the mountains with no food and water.
Only two weeks before, on 18 July, a mass exodus of Christian families from Mosul took place after IS gave them an ultimatum to convert, pay a tax, leave or be killed. Others, including members of the Shi’a community as well as Sunnis living in the north, had fled their homes in previous weeks fearing possible attacks from IS or the Iraqi security forces. Many of those displaced since June are trying to reach the Kurdistan Region of Iraq or are currently sheltered there by friends or families.
The US and European governments have announced the delivery of humanitarian aid to those displaced by the conflict. Most of the hundreds of survivors from the Sinjar mountain who spoke to Amnesty International in mid July said that little or no aid had reached them at the time they were stranded in the mountains, that where aid had been dropped water bottles had often broken on impact, or that by the time the aid drops were arriving many had already left the mountains. Many of those displaced in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq with whom Amnesty International spoke have said they have been helped by relatives or friends having been left with nowhere to go. Humanitarian aid started arriving after mid July, and it has reached some in need, but new attacks on civilians continue being reported, displacing more people every day. Therefore it is essential that International assistance and a concerted action from the international community, the Government of Iraq and the KRG is taken to meet the needs of displaced persons.
Meanwhile, the US has initiated military action in Iraq against IS, including air strikes, and other countries have announced providing military support to the Iraqi and Kurdish governments for their operations against IS.
While so many minority groups have been forced to flee, more than a million Sunni Muslims living in Mosul and other IS controlled areas cannot flee the area because of ongoing fighting between IS against Iraqi and Kurdish government forces as well as air strikes; some have been killed in air strikes carried out by the Iraqi government forces.
In July, Amnesty International issued a report documenting human rights abuses carried out by IS as well as by the Iraqi armed forces. The report drew attention to the greater risk civilians faced as air strikes were being launched more frequently, documenting several cases of killing and injury of civilians during Iraqi government air strikes in June and July in and around Mosul.
