Agence France-Presse, 31 January 2008
NEW YORK (AFP) - Human rights in Iraq deteriorated for much of 2007 while sectarian violence targeting civilians swelled the number of displaced to around 4.4 million, half of them abroad, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.
"Attacks on civilians by various insurgent and militia groups continued," HRW said in a bleak assessment of Iraq in its annual report.
This included the single deadliest attack since the war began in 2003, which in August targeted the Yazidi minority "resulting in the deaths of almost 500 civilians."
It said the "sectarian cleansing" of Baghdad by both Sunni and Shiite groups proceeded despite a US troop "surge" aimed at halting the killings.
"US military operations continued against Shiite and Sunni insurgents throughout the country, leading to an unknown number of civilian casualties."
Civilians were the targets of attacks by Sunni and Shiite armed groups across the country, though the number of such attacks decreased following the US and Iraqi security offensive.
"Many attacks appeared to be intended to cause the greatest possible civilian casualties and spread fear, notably those occurring in marketplaces, schools, and places of worship," the report said.
It said Iraq's government grew "more fragmented and dysfunctional."
"Legislation on oil revenue, one index of the chances of a cohesive national government, languished in a paralysed parliament.
"Defections from the government left its political and sectarian base even narrower, and made the prospect of national political reconciliation seem distant."
Due to the US-Iraqi security offensive in Baghdad, the number of detainees increased sharply, Human Rights Watch said.
"Iraqi detention facilities strained to accommodate them, and the justice system often foundered in reviewing their cases, leading to a backlog in Iraqi detention centres where reports of physical abuse and torture were common."
The government executed former President Saddam Hussein in late December 2006 and his one-time intelligence chief Barzan al-Tikriti two weeks later "following deeply-flawed trials", the New York-based rights group said.
"The manner of the executions further inflamed minority Sunni apprehensions about the Shiite majority government."
The killing of at least 17 Iraqi civilians by employees of US-based security firm Blackwater in September, the report said, "focused attention on the impunity with which private contractors operate in Iraq."
Citation: " Rights eroded in Iraq in 2007 with civilians targeted: HRW," Agence France-Presse, 31 January 2008.
Original URL: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080131/wl_mideast_afp/rightsiraq