IDPs gather before UN office, asking for intervention in Khurmatu situation

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Displaced persons from Tuz Khurmatu gathered in Erbil on Tuesday in front of the UN office, calling for the international community to intervene and investigate violations carried out against the residents by Shia militias.

The representative of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Khurmatu read a statement directed to the United Nations Special Representative in Iraq, Jan Kubis, and the Iraqi Human Rights Commission, asking for a committee to be formed to investigate the abuses and violations in the town of Khurmatu following the Oct. 16 attack.

Over 70,000 people have been displaced from Khurmatu to the Kurdistan Region.

The IDPs requested the international community to deploy neutral forces such as UN peacekeeping forces or the US-led coalition troops to the town to help stabilize and normalize the situation as well as to help the thousands of displaced people return to their homes.

They also called for compensation to the families affected by post-Oct.16 attacks in order to prevent retaliation in the area.

Iraqi Forces and the Iranian-backed Shia Hashd al-Shaabi militias attacked and took over Khurmatu and other disputed territories, including the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which had been under the protection of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the past few years.

The assault led to the displacement of 180,000 people to cities in the Kurdistan Region. Most of them were Kurds who left their homes in fear of abuses and violations by the militia groups.

Khurmatu is one of the areas most affected by the attacks in which thousands of Kurdish homes have been looted, burnt, and destroyed by the Shia militia groups, according to human rights organizations.

Editing by C. Douglas