Iraq: Militias Held, Beat Villagers | WPN World People News

Iraqi government-backed Hashad al-Asha’ri militias detained and beat at least 22 men from two villages near Mosul. The militias also recruited at least 10 children in a camp for displaced people as fighters against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS.

Hundreds of men arrive at Hasansham camp for displaced persons after being screened by Iraqi Security Forces.

“Civilians in ISIS-held territory in and around Mosul are asking themselves what will come next. The answer to that question should be greater respect for human rights,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “For some civilians who have come under the control of Hashad al-Asha’ri militias, however, the change in guard has not meant protection from rights abuses.”

On October 17, 2016, the Iraqi central government and Kurdistan Regional Government authorities, with the support of an international coalition, started military operations to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, which ISIS captured in June 2014. The Hashad al-Asha’ri, made up of local Sunni fighters, have joined the fight and are playing a role in Mosul military operations against ISIS. They are being paid by Baghdad’s Defense Ministry, two militiamen and two military analysts in Iraq told Human Rights Watch.

On October 21, 2016, the Hashad al-Asha’ri Fares al-Sabawy militia occupied Douizat al-Sufla, 48 kilometers southeast of Mosul, after ISIS pulled out, arresting more than 50 men and holding them in an abandoned house in the village, a local resident told Human Rights Watch. The local resident said that at least two of the men had been beaten. Some others were moved to another site and have not returned home.

On October 30, members of the same militia detained 20 residents of a neighboring village, Tal al-Sha’eir, after ISIS pulled out, also moving them to another village and beating them, two brothers who were among those held said. They said the men were rescued by Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), who ensured they were no longer beaten by the militia and freed some of them, but took no action against the group that had detained and beaten them.

The Iraqi authorities should investigate any alleged acts of torture and cruel and inhuman treatment in custody and charge those responsible for war crimes, including anyone with command responsibility who should have known about the crimes and failed to take all reasonable measures to prevent them.

Human Rights Watch also documented three recent cases in which children were recruited as fighters from Debaga camp for displaced people, 40 kilometers south of Erbil. One of those recruited said that he was among eight fighters under age 18 in a group taken from the camp. Human Rights Watch documented, in October 2015, that some Popular Mobilization Forces militias, who are allied with the Iraqi military, also used child soldiers in fighting ISIS forces.

All security forces and armed groups should abide by international law and respect the absolute ban against torture and ill-treatment, and demobilize any fighters under age 18, Human Rights Watch said. The ban against torture and ill-treatment is one of the most fundamental prohibitions in international human rights law. No exceptional circumstances can justify torture. Iraq is a party to key international treaties that ban torture under all circumstances, even during recognized states of emergency, and require investigation and prosecution of those responsible.

The United Nations Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict, which Iraq ratified in 2008, prohibits national armies and non-state armed groups from recruiting and using children under 18. As parties to the conflict, the United States and other coalition members conducting airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq should pressure Iraq’s government and Iraqi militias to end child recruitment, immediately demobilize children, work to reintegrate them, and appropriately penalize commanders responsible for recruiting children, including those who “volunteer.”

“The US should press the Iraqi government to ensure that the troops they are supporting don’t have fighters under 18 in their ranks,” Fakih said. “The battle for Mosul should not be fought with children on the frontlines.”

Source:Human Rights Watch