Iraq Conflict 2014 Update: UN Reports 26,000 Civilian Casualties Stem from Conflict
The conflict in Iraq has had tremendous consequences on civilians in Iraq with 26,000 civilian casualties this year, according to a report from the United Nations.
The U.N. said that 9,343 people have been killed in Iraq between January and the end of September, with the majority of those deaths coming since the Islamic State began its offensive in that country in June, The New York Times reported.
More than 17,000 have been injured in the fighting. The report said these numbers are considered to be absolute minimums and the true figures could be more much higher.
Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, has butchered civilians in its offensive, and the group has been implicated in ethnic cleansing, rape and other physical and sexual violence against women and children. ISIS killed at least 2,000 people in Iraq via mass executions.
"The array of violations and abuses perpetrated by ISIL and associated armed groups is staggering, and many of their acts may amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity," Zeid Ra'ad Zeid al-Hussein, the U.N.'s human rights chief, said in a statement.
Zeid al-Hussein also called for the Iraqi government to join the International Criminal Court, adding that the Hague was ready to prosecute ISIS for these crimes against humanity.
But the Iraqi government also shoulders some blame for the astounding number of civilian casualties, according to the U.N. The report says that the government has conducted airstrikes in heavily civilian areas in an effort to wipe out ISIS.
The Islamic militants have wreaked havoc in areas they've captured in Iraq with witnesses reporting human rights violations across the country, Reuters said. The U.N. report backs up those assertions.
"These include attacks directly targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, executions and other targeted killings of civilians, abductions, rape and other forms of sexual and physical violence perpetrated against women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction or desecration of places of religious or cultural significance, wanton destruction and looting of property, and denial of fundamental freedoms."
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