HRW: Iraq forcefully displaced 235 families over Daesh ties

Human Rights Watch accused the Iraqi authorities of forcing 235 families to flee their areas west of Kirkuk to refugee camps on suspicion that they had links to Daesh militants.

“Officials, camp management and three international organisations have confirmed that in early January 2018, Iraqi forces forcibly displaced at least 235 families of suspected affiliates of the Islamic State [Daesh],” the rights group said in a report.

Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at HRW, added: “By forcibly displacing these families, the Iraqi authorities destine their members to a grim future, under difficult economic conditions, limited educational opportunities, and poor living conditions in the camps.”

The Iraqi government complicity in deepening the division within the Iraqi society could not lead to any positive result.

The manager of Daqouq camp, located 30 kilometres south of Kirkuk, told HRW that 220 families had been received since 4 January; all were from villages in the Hawija area, west of Kirkuk, and were brought over by Iraqi forces because they were alleged relatives of Daesh members.

According to the report, Human Rights Watch interviewed 24 people from 19 families who said they were brought to the camp between 4-9 January from ten villages.

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According to them, “the Iraqi army and the Popular Mobilisation Forces gathered the families without warning, in a coordinated manner based on lists they had and brought them to the camp after screening them in military bases”.

Iraqi forces recaptured the Hawija district from Daesh on 8 October last year.