Northern Iraqi Minorities Face Human Rights “Catastrophe”

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ERBIL, Iraq – A report released by Human Rights Watch (HRW) warns of a possible disaster for northern Iraqi minorities. The human rights organization released their analysis on November 10, declaring that the policies and tactics of the Kurdish authorities were posing a significant risk to the rights of the region’s minority groups.

The HRW report, released in the Kurdish region’s capital, Erbil, was focused on Christians, Shabaks and Yazidis located in the Nineveh Province. Members of these groups are singled out by insurgent groups. The minority groups are caught in the middle of a battle for land and resources. The battle has pitted the Arabs and the central government against the leaders of Iraq’s Kurdish region.

The Nineveh province of Iraq is one of the most ethnically diverse regions of the country with both Arab and Kurdish leaders laying claim to the territory. After decades of repression under Saddam Hussein, Kurdish groups have grown in strength since the beginning of the U.S.-led invasion.

While the Kurdish Regional Government has offered financial inducements to win the support of minorities, the HRW says that they are simultaneously using repressive measures to control the groups. Among these measures include “arbitrary arrests and detentions, intimidation, and in some cases low-level violence.”

The HRW also reported that the extremist elements of the Sunni Arab insurgency views the minority groups as “crusaders” and “infidels.” The Sunni Arab insurgency is particularly strong in Nineveh and in August 2007 truck bombings, allegedly by Sunni Islamists, killed more than three hundred Yazidis. This marked the single worst attack against civilians since the beginning of the war.

Another attack on minorities occurred in late 2008, where “targeted killings and violence” resulted in the death of forty Chaldo-Assyrians. Human Rights Watch has urged Kurdish leaders and the central government of Iraq to attempt to improve the security of Iraqi minorities.

While the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) questioned the validity of the report, they promised to look into the allegations made. The KRG released a statement saying that they had “done more for protection of minorities than any other entity in Iraq.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Iraq Minority Rights Fears Grow – 11 November 2009

New York Times – Minorities in Iraq’s North Seen as Threatened – 11 November 2009

AFP – Iraq’s minorities victim of northern conflict: HRW – 10 November 2009

AP – Rights Report Criticizes Kurds Over Minorities – 10 November 2009

Author: Impunity Watch Archive