Current News in Context
November 14, 2005
Bassem Mroue (AP) reports that 50 people were killed this morning as Operation Steel Curtain continues in Obeidi, a town near the Syrian border in the Euphrates river valley. It is a joint action with Iraqi and U.S. troops. He also reports that the Interior Ministry has arrested more than 300 people in raids in the province of Diyala northwest of Baghdad. The raids followed a truck bombing in the Shiite village that killed 20. See the human rights situation report below for more details.
US/Iraqi Troops Kill 50
"We strongly condemn the military operations and demand that they are halted immediately," Saleh al-Mutlaq of the Sunni National Dialogue Front told reporters. "We demand that the United Nations, the Arab League and humanitarian organizations stop these massacres."
Ayad al-Izi, a member of the largest Sunni Arab party, charged that raids by the Interior Ministry in religiously mixed Diyala province were politically motivated to cow Sunnis.
"Such practices are aimed at foiling the political process in the country and they ignite the strife in such areas," said al-Izi of the Iraqi Islamic Party.
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On Saturday an Iraqi Red Crescent doctor reported that 50 bodies had been found in the rubble of a town near the Syrian border where U.S.-led troops swept through this week. Around 2,500 U.S. troops and 1,000 Iraqi soldiers launched Operation Steel Curtain a week ago around the western town of Qusayba. They conducted house-to-house searches to root out insurgents and destroyed a number of houses in airstrikes.
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ICRC Appeal
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Reports from the UN and other agencies show that the socio-economic conditions in Iraq have deteriorated. Some 11% of the population (2.7 million people) live on less than USD $1 per day. Around 3.6 million people are likely to become food insecure unless they are provided with food rations. Between 2004 and the first half of 2005, many thousands of Iraqi civilians have been displaced as a result of the ongoing instability.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation) has issued an emergency appeal seeking $12 million dollars to support the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) in its efforts to deliver relief assistance to 60,000 families - nearly 350,000 people - affected by ongoing instability in much of Iraq.
ICRC launches appeal to help 350,000 Iraqis
International Federation of Red Cross & Red Crescent Societies: 14 November 2005
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Environmental Assessment
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In July 2004, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was awarded a project to assess contaminated sites in Iraq in partnership with Iraq's ministry of the Environment. The project was supported by the UN Trust Fund for Iraq through funds made available by the Government of Japan.
The information gathered from these studies will help Iraqis discover the impact of various weapons used in the wars - including depleted uranium - but will also start to map out the broader environmental impacts of the war and sanction.
It should also be a factor in the discussion about clean-up and the obligations of compensation that the U.S. government will be responsible for.
Assessment of Environmental "Hot Spots" in Iraq
United Nations Environment Program: 10 November 2005
The site assessment project had the following major components:
1. Identifying sites within Iraq which are potentially contaminated and creating a database which will assist in prioritizing intervention;
2. Building the capacity and institutional knowledge in the Iraqi Ministry of the Environment to enable it to conduct site assessment programs;
3. Detailed assessment of five priority sites via a phased process of desk studies, site inspections, environmental sampling, laboratory analysis, interpretation and qualitative risk assessment;
4. Preliminary assessment of contaminated land issues in Iraq at the national level. Issues addressed included a broad range of current problems including conflict-related impacts, identifying needs and setting the priorities for future policy and infrastructure development.
Full Report:
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UNAMI: Human Rights Situation Report
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The Human rights situation report by the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq for September and October continues to draw attention to incredible levels of violence in Iraq. Below is a selection.
IRAQ: Human rights situation report Sep/Oct 2005
UN Assistance Mission in Iraq: 31 October 2005
The proliferation of armed militias, criminal and terrorist organizations acting with impunity constitutes a major challenge to law and order and a threat to the security of the civilian population. Militias have been accused of kidnappings, extra-judicial executions and carrying out illegal policing and sectarian attacks. It is extremely worrying that some of these crimes are committed by individuals wearing police and military uniforms and using police or military equipment. In some areas, including Baghdad, sectarian violence increasingly seems to aim at disrupting the traditionally peaceful coexistence of communities. Reports from Baghdad's neighbourhoods of Al-Hurriya, Al-Adhamiya, Al-Amriya, Al-Khadhraa, Abu Dsheer, Baghdad Aljedeeda and Al-Dura portray ongoing violence resulting in displacement of individuals and families to other neighbourhoods following threats and killings. Similar displacements were reported to and from Basra, Baghdad, Ninewa and Al Anbar. There are also voluntary displacements, as families have shared the concern with the Human Rights Office that sectarian pressures are too intense to permit them to remain in their neighborhood. Such displacements have been reported in Tal Afar, Tarmiya, Basra and other cities in the country. There are continuous first hand reports that long term Arab residents are still victims of stigmatization, harassment and arbitrary detention because of their perceived association with "foreign fighters."
Ongoing military and security operations by MNF-I and Iraqi forces with the stated aim of restoring law and order, including the resort to aerial bombardment, also had a negative impact on human rights. The United Nations has been unable to obtain accurate figures concerning civilian losses following such operations but reports received from civil society organizations, medical sources and other monitors indicate that they are significant and include women and children. According to figures released by the MNF-I and NGOs, more than 10,000 families have been displaced due to ongoing military operations in Al Anbar and Ninewa Governorates. Displaced persons' access to basic services has been severely hampered. Similarly, the impediment of the delivery of humanitarian assistance to areas and individuals affected remains a key point of concern, as is the growing number of humanitarian actors detained or imprisoned while attempting to carry out their work. According to reports from the Word Health Organization, during military operations in Al Anbar Governorate in October, medical doctors were detained and medical facilities occupied by armed forces. The UN has repeatedly raised this issue with the Ministry of Health. Such actions are contrary to international law governing armed conflict and in any event they constitute a denial of the protection of international human rights law. Many homes have been damaged or destroyed and restrictions on freedom of movement have added to civilian hardship. The price paid by civilians, including women and children, during military activity currently underway calls for further reflection on the nature and conduct of the conflict and on the proportionality of the use of force.
The large number of detainees held in the country remains a matter of concern. While progress in reviewing cases led to the release of hundreds, the overall number of detainees continued to increase due to mass arrests carried out during security and military operations. The vast majority of the detainee population are individuals interned under MNF-I jurisdiction for "imperative reasons of security."
UNAMI is concerned about the continued extension of the state of emergency across Iraq with the exception of the three Northern Governorates. Furthermore, the wide definition of "terrorism" contained in the new anti-terrorism law debated by the Transitional National Assembly, as well as the extension of the application of capital punishment to new categories of crimes, such as notions of complicity, remain a source of serious concern.
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