UN urges Iraq to protect victims of IS sexual violence

The United Nations on Tuesday urged the Iraqi government to ensure women and girls who were victims of sexual violence by the Islamic State (IS) are protected and receive justice.

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The United Nations on Tuesday urged the Iraqi government to ensure women and girls who were victims of sexual violence by the Islamic State (IS) are protected and receive justice.

In an official report, the UN Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) and the UN rights office underlined the risk of abuse children born as a result of sexual violence face.

“The physical, mental, and emotional injuries inflicted by [IS] are almost beyond comprehension,” UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement.

“If victims are to rebuild their lives, and indeed those of their children, they need justice, and they need redress,” he explained.

The UN report highlighted the horrific abuses suffered by Kurdish Yezidi (Ezidi) women and girls at the hands of the militant group.

After IS overran the Ezidi-majority area of Sinjar (Shingal) in mid-2014, the extremists committed heinous crimes against the minority.

Thousands of men were massacred or buried alive while Ezidi women and girls were kidnapped and sold as sex slaves.

An estimated 3,000 women remain in IS captivity in Iraq and Syria.

The UN urged Baghdad to “prosecute the perpetrators and help ensure reparations for the victims.”

Iraq’s criminal justice system “largely fails to ensure the appropriate respect and protection of women and children who have been subjected to sexual and other forms of violence,” the report said.

The UN report said the Iraqi government was responsible for protecting women and children in IS-controlled areas under risk of “discrimination and forms of collective punishment.”

“The government must ensure [these children] are protected from marginalization and abuse,” Hussein concluded.

 

Editing by G.H. Renaud