government forces gearing up to drive Islamic State fighters from Mosul
should prioritize protection of civilians. Hundreds of thousands of
civilians remain in Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, which the
extremist group Islamic State, also known as ISIS, took control of in
June 2014.
ISIS and pro-government forces both have records of harming civilians during and after military operations. The
,
and other states providing military support to Iraq should condition
their support on scrupulous respect for the laws of war, which prohibit
attacks that disproportionately harm civilians or fail to distinguish
civilians and civilian objects from military objectives.
“Protecting civilians from needless harm needs to be paramount in any battle for control of Mosul,” said
Joe Stork,
deputy Middle East director. “It’s essential for the Iraq government to
exercise effective command and control over all its forces, and for
allies like the US and Iran to make sure they do so.”
Human Rights Watch has, since 2014, documented laws of war violations by the
Iraqi military
and the largely Shia militias that make up the Iraqi government’s
Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), and by Kurdish Peshmerga fighters
fighting ISIS, including
summary executions,
disappearances,
torture, use of
child soldiers, widespread
building demolition,
indiscriminate attacks, and unlawful
restrictions on the
movement of people fleeing the fighting.
Human Rights Watch also called on ISIS forces to respect the laws of war, and in particular to allow
civilians to leave areas under their control, not to
use civilians to shield its military objectives from
attack, and not to use
child soldiers.
In mid-March 2016, the Iraqi army opened a ground offensive from the
town of Makhmur, in Erbil governorate, toward Qayyara, 70 kilometers
south of Mosul, but one month later, only a few nearby villages had been
captured. The US-led
coalition has conducted aerial attacks on ISIS and
advises local forces on ground attacks. Germany
leads a training center for Kurdish forces and provides them with
weapons. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps provides military
advisors to Iraq.
With a political stand-off in Baghdad over the nomination of new
government ministers, Human Rights Watch called on Iraq’s international
supporters to use their leverage with political and military leaders in
Iraq to ensure civilian protection and compliance with the laws of war.
Popular Mobilization Forces officials have said their forces would be at the
forefront of the campaign against ISIS in Mosul, and the Peshmerga also
vowed
to participate. Speaking to Human Rights Watch in Baghdad in late
March, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the Popular
Mobilization Commission overseeing the PMF, was clear that he expected
his forces would participate in the battle for Mosul.
In late February 2016, Atheel al-Nujaifi, the former governor of Nineveh, who has his own militia,
warned that local residents would rise up against the PMF if they participated. On April 11, Iraqi pollster Munqith Dagher presented
results
from one survey in which “of the 120 Sunni respondents in Mosul, 100
percent do not want to be liberated by Shiite militias or the Kurds.”
The Popular Mobilization Commission has increased its capacity to
ensure compliance with the laws of war, its spokesperson Yusif al-Kilabi
told Human Rights Watch in late March in Baghdad. Al-Kilabi said the
commission set up a Directorate for Security and Discipline, with 20
staff lawyers providing training on the laws of war and 100 liaison
officers who accompany PMF forces in the field.
Judge Abd al-Sattar Bir Qadar, spokesperson for the High Judicial
Council, told Human Rights Watch that he had recently sent judges to
process detainees the PMF had taken on the battlefield following the
Jazira campaign in March. Bir Qadar added that the judiciary also held
PMF members accountable under civilian law, with 300 PMF members charged
or convicted of crimes and currently held in a new detention facility
in Baghdad’s Kazhimiya neighborhood. Bir Qadar did not provide details
of charges or convictions. Al-Kilabi said some PMF fighters had received
10 and 20-year sentences, but did not say what crimes they had been
charged with.
Iraqi law contains no specific provisions for war crimes, crimes
against humanity, or genocide, and Human Rights Watch urged Prime
Minister Haider al-Abbadi to rectify this in a meeting in late March.
Holding fighters accountable under the laws of war became even more
important after the prime minister, on February 22, 2016, decided to
transform the PMF into a permanent military institution with military
ranks directly linked to the office of the commander in chief, who is
the prime minister.
Kurdish Regional Government officials, in a March 26, 2016 letter to
Human Rights Watch, said that Masoud Barzani, president of the
autonomous Kurdish Region of Iraq, had issued Order No. 3 in March to
Peshmerga fighters to observe principles of human rights and
humanitarian law. The order stated that, “In all possible situations,
civilians should be protected from any threat on their lives and
properties, as well as the protection of their towns and villages which
have been liberated by Peshmerga forces.”
“Training in the laws of war and orders to respect it are positive
moves, but need to result in actual respect for the laws during
conflict,” Stork said. “Given the record of abuses by armed actors on
all sides, it is crucial for Iraq’s international allies to press the
government to discipline and hold accountable fighters and commanders
who violate the laws of war.”
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