UN human rights chief concerned over situation in Iraq

UNITED NATIONS: As Sunni insurgents continue to overrun parts of northern Iraq, the United Nations human rights chief expressed “extreme alarm” on Friday at reports of summary executions and extra-judicial killings, and the massive displacement of some half a million people, many of whom are now in urgent need of shelter. The UN human rights commissioner Navi Pillay said in a statement that she was deeply disturbed by reports that fighters belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria “including prisoners they had released from jails in Mosul and provided with arms, have been actively seeking out — and in some cases killing — soldiers, police and others, including civilians, whom they perceive as being associated with the government”. The full extent of civilian casualties was unknown, but “the number of people killed in the conflict in recent days may run into the hundreds, and the number of wounded is said to be approaching 1,000,” Ms Pillay said. She said the conduct of ISIS fighters in Iraq would be under “particular scrutiny” because of what she said was the well-documented record of the insurgents in committing grave international crimes in Syria. The United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria has accused the insurgents of committing crimes against humanity and other serious human rights violations in the Syrian provinces of Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo. Published in Dawn, June 14th, 2014