Iraq in the News

17 May 2012 | AK News
Mass grave discovered in Halabja

"A mass grave dating back to the time of chemical bombardment of Halabja was found in the city yesterday, Kurdish Xendan website reported. This is the 29th mass grave found in Halabja. Remains of 40 bodies of mainly women and children are expected to be in the grave, Halabja Mayor Goran Adham told Xendan."
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15 May 2012 | Human Rights Watch
Iraq: Mass Arrests, Incommunicado Detentions

"Iraq’s government has been carrying out mass arrests and unlawfully detaining people in the notorious Camp Honor prison facility in Baghdad’s Green Zone, based on numerous interviews with victims, witnesses, family members, and government officials. The government had claimed a year ago that it had closed the prison, where Human Rights Watch had documented rampant torture."
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14 May 2012 | Human Rights Watch
Syrian Kurds Fleeing to Iraqi Safe Haven

"It was a January evening when his Syrian army unit raided a house near the city of Zabadani, not far from Damascus, the former sergeant recalled. A 70-year-old man wearing a hospital gown was brought to the house, and the soldiers, including a colonel, interrogated him. When he wasn’t able to respond to their satisfaction, one of the guards beat him ferociously in the face with a helmet."
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3 May 2012 | Rudaw
Female Circumcision Still Prevalent Among Some Kurdish Communities

"Around 34 percent of women in the ethnically diverse city of Kirkuk have been circumcised and most of them are Kurdish, according to a new joint survey by the German WADI organization and the Iraqi Pana Center. The survey on female genital mutilation found that the practice has declined in Kirkuk; however, 15 percent of girls in the community under 20 have been circumcised."
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26 April 2012 | Reporters without borders
Media freedom under threat from all sides

"In the light of the Information Technology Crimes law before the Iraqi parliament, and the proliferation of attacks on journalists in recent weeks, Reporters Without Borders is extremely concerned about freedom of information in Iraq."
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20 April 2012 | Rudaw
Syrian Refugees Find Safety, But Little Comfort, in Kurdistan

"A stream of Syrian Kurdish refugees keeps arriving in the Kurdistan Region, adding to the 130 families and approximately 700 men who have already fled the government crackdown. The majority of refugees have settled in the Dumiz and Mukble camps outside Duhok."
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17 April 2012 | MEMRI
Al-Arabiya TV Report on 'Emo Killings' in Iraq

"Following are excerpts from a report on the killing in Iraq of young people who are adherents of the "emo" movement. The report aired on Al-Arabiya TV on March 23, 2012."
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12 April 2012 | Niqash
Deadly radio waves: Just another excuse to curtail Iraqi media freedoms?

"Iraq’s Ministry of the Environment wants to shut down media outlets with transmitters that they say endanger public health. Local journalists are refusing, saying it’s just another cunning way of curtailing media freedoms in Iraq."
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12 April 2012 | AK News
Iraqi human rights committee calls on Kurdish counterpart to coordinate fight against female circumcision

"A member of the human rights committee in the Iraqi Council of Representatives today called on its Kurdish counterpart to coordinate together to fight against female circumcision, adding that awareness and education are the most important weapons to combat the practice. MP Ashwaq al-Jaff of the Iraqi committee said: "Educating against this phenomenon is the responsibility of the human rights committee in Baghdad and Erbil in coordination with civil society organizations, cultural centers and media, as well as the important role of the family."
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11 April 2012 | Rudaw
Syrian Kurds take refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan

"The ongoing bloodshed in Syria has forced many to flee the country. For many of the Syrian Kurds, Iraqi Kurdistan has become a natural refuge. Here they are far from the reach of President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and are greeted with sympathetic attitudes from the locals. The Syrian Kurds come to the Kurdistan Region hoping to be able to return to their country once Assad’s regime collapses. But there is still no sign of that. The strong resolve shown by the government in Damascus to stay in power at whatever rate has plunged the fate of these refugees, and their country, into uncertainty. Rudaw’s Mohammed Salih reports on the conditions these refugees live under and why they chose exile."
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9 April 2012 | Rudaw
Anfal Survivors Continue to Suffer Without Proper Support

"Residents of the Garmiyan region say the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has ignored them. The Garmiyan region was the main target of the Anfal genocide campaign by the Iraqi regime in the late 1980s, where tens of thousands of Kurdish civilians, mainly villagers, went missing. Rebin Taha, a resident of the town of Rizgari, largely populated by Anfal survivors, says, “The biggest mistake of our government with regards to the Anfal genocide is its misunderstanding of the needs of the victims of this campaign. The government sees the needs of the survivors only in housing and a monthly salary.”"
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7 April 2012 | AK News
Over 4,000 arranged marital engagements annulled in Raniya

"Some 2,000 cases of arranged marital engagements were annulled over a five-year period in Raniya city because they were made when the engaged were only children."
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24 March 2012 | AK News
1,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Kurdistan

"The number of Syrian refugees in Kurdistan Region has risen to around 1,000 in the last month. Almost 1,000 asylum seekers, including 60 families and Syrian army defectors have fled Syria for Kurdistan, according to Kurdistan Region's Immigration Officer."
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20 March 2012 | Rudaw
Erbil and Baghdad Dispute Funding for Arab Refugees

"A new dispute has arisen between Erbil and Baghdad over Arab refugees who have settled in the Kurdistan Region in the past few years. The Iraqi minister of immigration, Dindar Najman Doski, says the Iraqi government expects the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to provide financial support for the Arab families. “The Iraqi Finance Ministry wants KRG to provide service for the Arab refugee families, who are settled in Kurdistan, from the 17 percent of the annual budget it receives from Baghdad.” Bayz Talabani, KRG finance minister, rejected this demand from Baghdad, saying, “We will not do that.” Doski, a Kurd serving in the Iraqi government, said Baghdad’s request of the KRG is unfair."
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16 March 2012 | Rudaw
Domestic Violence Study Shows Education Level a Factor

"The Center for Combating Violence Against Women in the Raparin district recently published a report detailing cases of domestic violence against women. The report contains statistics about the perpetuators and the victims of domestic violence. It shows that most cases of domestic violence involved illiterate individuals or people from low educational backgrounds."
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14 March 2012 | ekurd
New refuge but little comfort or freedoms for fleeing Syrian Kurds in Iraqi Kurdistan

"Kurdish Syrians fleeing their nation’s bloody uprising are all but prisoners in northern Iraqi refugee camps, though they seek shelter in a region that was created specifically as a safe haven for ethnic Kurds."
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14 March 2012 | Niqash
"Iraq’s threatened emo kids: ‘We are peaceful, we do not worship the devil’

"Since February Iraqi extremists have been threatening, even murdering, Iraq’s “emo” teenagers. They believe them to be Satanists, vampires or homosexuals. While religious authorities say the anti-emo campaign is wrong, activists now suspect police involvement in the threats."
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12 March 2012 | Washington Post
Iraqi youth panicked by reports of killings

"Panic is spreading among young people in Iraq after reports by Iraqi media and rights groups that dozens of people have been threatened or killed in the past few weeks because they are suspected of being gay or because they dress in a distinctive, gothic style known as emo."
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6 March 2012 | Reuters
"Honor killings" require tougher laws, say Iraqi women

"Near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, a father doused his three teenage daughters with boiling water and shot them because, he told a court, he suspected they were having sex. Two died. He said he killed them to defend his honor."
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5 March 2012 | AsiaNews
Kirkuk: Young Christians and Muslims promote peace and interfaith dialogue

"In the Chaldean cathedral in 35 young people, Muslims and Christians, met for the third time the idea of non-violence and peaceful coexistence. Imam of the city also addresses event and leads group on visit to the mosque. Mgr Sako: "young people, future and hope for the country for a lasting peace."
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23 February 2012 | Niqash
Never ending mystery: What really happened to kurdish civil war missing

"Hundreds went missing during Iraqi Kurdistan’s civil war in the 1990s. Because the two parties that waged the war are now in power, there’s still no real official information about the missing. But their families refuse to give up the search."
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14 February 2012 | The Kurdistan Tribune
Outrage as Iraqi women’s affairs minister opposes equality for women

"Last week Abtihal Alzidi, the Iraqi minister for women’s affairs in Nuri Al Maliki’s government, told a local news agency that she does not believe in equality between women and men in Iraq: ”I am against the equality between men and woman”, she said. “If women are equal to men they are going to lose a lot. Up to now I am with the power of the man in society. If I go out of my house, I have to tell my husband where I am going. This does not mean diluting the role of woman in society but, on the contrary, it will bring more power to the woman as a mother who looks after their kids and brings up their children”."
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13 February 2012 | Rudaw
Women Activists Condemn Tribal Settlement of Murder Cases

"In 1990, a man accused his wife, the mother of three children, of having an affair and killed her. His in-laws didn’t file any charges against him in court. Instead, they said the death of their daughter was an accident. The man remarried and had two more children. Kurdistan Women’s Union investigated this case and its secretary-general, Vyan Sileman, says, “In 2000, the same man killed his second wife, again accusing her of having an affair.” The man is currently serving time in prison in Duhok. “If the man had been punished when he killed his first wife, he wouldn’t have had the chance to remarry and kill another woman,” Sileman said. Sileman blamed tribal methods of solving social issues, saying, “If it was not for tribal-family agreements, the second woman wouldn’t have died and five children wouldn’t have become orphans.”"
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9 February 2012 | Human Rights Watch
Iraq: 65 Executions in First 40 Days of 2012

"Iraqi authorities should halt all executions and abolish the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the beginning of 2012, Iraq has executed at least 65 prisoners, 51 of them in January, and 14 more on February 8, for various offenses."
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February 2012 | kirkuknow
WADI: 50% of Kirkuk women circumcised

"In its latest report on FGM, the German WADI says the circumcised women are facing social challenges to an extent of insult. The report which resulted from a filed investigation on FGM in Kirkuk province, says out of one thousand participants, 600 hundred were circumcised. The report concludes that over 50% of the province’s women are circumcised."
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26 January 2012 | Niqash
Lives of agony and suffering: No help for victims of Halabja gas attacks

"The horrific gas attacks on the Iraqi town of Halabja happened over two decades ago. Yet survivors still suffer many health problems. And although the government has made promises to help, survivors say they’ve been abandoned by their state."
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January 2012 | OHCHR
Pillay condemns Iraq’s execution of 34 individuals in a single day

"The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Tuesday said she was shocked at reports that 34 individuals, including two women, were executed in Iraq on 19 January following their conviction for various crimes. “Even if the most scrupulous fair trial standards were observed, this would be a terrifying number of executions to take place in a single day,” Pillay said."
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January 2012 | wadinet
Annual report by Metro Center about Violations against journalists in Iraqi Kurdistan Region in 2011

"Metro center to defend journalists declares that violations against journalists and media channels in Kurdistan region in 2011 is seen as a dangerous indicator. It is the highest record for violations during the last two decades of Kurdish administration. Metro center recorded 359 cases of violations in different forms."
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19 January 2012 | Rudaw
Kurdish Activists: Women’s Abuse Under-Reported

"Nearly 4,000 cases of violence were recorded in Iraqi Kurdistan in 2011 including 720 cases of systematic torture, the government reported last week, but women’s activists say the numbers are severely under-reported. The government registered 3,766 cases in 2011. Seventy-six women were killed or committed suicide, while 330 had either been burned or self-immolated -- a common method of suicide by women in the region."
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19 January 2012 | Irinnews
IRAQ: People consider fleeing as violence increases

"Suicide attacks, assassinations and bombings in Iraq have claimed the lives of at least 265 people and injured hundreds of others since 18 December, the date the USA withdrew all but 200 of its troops from the country, according to the health and interior ministries. The wave of attacks, carried out mainly by Sunni extremists from Al-Qaeda in Iraq against Shia communities, has alarmed many who fear the country could descend into chaos once more, with the government itself acknowledging it is not capable of ensuring security on its own."
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19 January 2012 | Niqash
New UK plan could bring internationals complicit in Halabja massacre to justice

"Saddam Hussein’s poison gas attacks on Halabja still claim victims today with locals sick and projects on hold because of contamination. International firms that supplied gas ingredients have never been brought to justice either. A new UK plan could change all that."
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13 January 2012 | Irinnews
IRAQ: New research highlights link between FGM/C and mental disorders

"New data out of Iraq shows what many psychologists suspected though little research has confirmed: Girls who have undergone female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) are more prone to mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."
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10 January 2012 | Niqash
Honour killings: plague of suicides in north may actually be murder

"The number of suicides in the Sinjar area among the Yazidi religious minority has risen. Some blame poverty, others television. But at least some of the suicides are being used to cover up crime and honour killings."
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9 January 2012 | Gulf Times
Police say sorry for Saddam era

"Iraq’s police, completely reformed after the 2003 US-led invasion, yesterday apologised for acts committed during the rule of Saddam Hussain, on the eve of the force’s 90th anniversary. The statement came as Iraq grapples with a festering political row that has pitted the Shia-led government against the main Sunni-backed bloc, raising sectarian tensions as minority groups have warned of the politicisation of the security forces."
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3 January 2012 | Reporters Without Borders
Black December for media freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan

"Reporters Without Borders roundly condemns a wave of media freedom violations in Iraqi Kurdistan during December, especially a series of arrests of journalists that were carried out in a completely illegal manner."
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16 December 2011 | Aljazeera
Kidnapping stokes fears in Iraqi Kurdistan

"Ankawa, Kurdistan Region, Iraq - After thousands of US troops have packed their bags to return home in time for Christmas with their families, celebrations of Jesus’ birth may be more sober this year in Iraq. Many Iraqi Christians suggest the withdrawal of American soldiers removes a stabilizing and pacifying force, contrary to the perception amongst most other Iraqis that almost nine years wrought little more than chaos and destruction. Nowhere does this pro-American sentiment find its voice more than Ankawa, a predominantly Christian and affluent northern suburb of Iraqi Kurdistan’s capital, Erbil. Without a doubt, the increasingly prosperous north is far calmer than the rest of the country, and the regional government takes security precautions seriously. But pessimism about the future is slowly rising. On Monday afternoon, 29-year-old Sermat Patros was kidnapped from his family’s home furnishings store along a busy commercial street in his tranquil neighbourhood."
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30 November 2011 | Rudaw
Yezidi Region Faces Poverty

"Shangal, a Yezidi town in Nineveh province is considered one of the richest agricultural lands of Iraq but its residents live in dire poverty. Saddam Hussein’s regime devastated Shangal during its notorious Arabization campaign. Nadima Kichan, a member of Mosul’s Provincial Council, said, Poverty can be traced back to the 1970s when Saddam destroyed the villages of this region and forced its residents to live in restricted compounds."
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29 November 2011 | Kurdish Globe
International community has responsibility to prevent genocide, says Anfal minister

"Minister Mohamed told the group, "We need the world to know what the regime of Saddam Hussein, as well as previous regimes, did to the Kurds. Kurdistan Regional Government's Minister for Martyrs and Anfal Affairs this week in London called for help for the victims of genocide and support in achieving international recognition of the crimes committed by Saddam Hussein's regime."
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25 November 2011 | Rudaw
Physical Assault Against Women On Rise In Sulaimani

"According to a report by the Directorate of Investigation of Violence Against Women in Sulaimani, 1409 men have been arrested in relation to violence against women in the past three years. The directorate report said that such cases are on the rise. This report shows that besides detaining a large number of men for interrogation, there are more than 1,000 men wanted for assaults and acts of violence against women who have not been arrested yet."
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23 November 2011 | Al Arabiya
Of women who set themselves on fire in Iraq’s Kurdistan

"Women all over the world are immolating themselves for all sorts of reasons, against all sorts of social abnormalities and the same is true in Iraqi Kurdistan where the practice is said to be on the rise. The figure of women burning themselves alive has gone up from 39 in 1991 to 441 cases in 2010, the London-based Dar al-Hayat reported on Wednesday citing cases registered by the police in northern Iraq."
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5 November 2011 | AK News
Interview with undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Rights

"Hussein Zuhairi, the undersecretary of the Ministry of Human Rights, has told AKnews the ministry is preparing a comprehensive plan to internationalize the crimes of the former regime. Zuhairi spoke to AKnews correspondent Mahmoud al-Jaabouri, saying the crimes of the former regime are not clearly documented and highlighted in front of the international community and people of Iraq."
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22 October 2011 | Kurdish Globe
Hundreds more found in mass grave

"Excavations continue of mass graves of Kurds buried in Iraq's southern desert during Saddam Hussein's era. The remains are examined to find the identity of the bodies and are brought back to Kurdistan for reburial, said the Kurdish minister of Martyrs and Anfal Affairs."
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20 October 2011 | Rudaw
Suicide Concerns Among Kurdish Men

"“Do not blame anyone, I did it myself. Please forgive me.” Those were the last words scribbled in charcoal by Ahmed Abdulkahar, aged 16, on the wall of his house where he committed suicide in a village near Kush Tepe, in Erbil province."
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18 October 2011 | AK News
Assassination of doctors in Kirkuk continues

"The assassination of doctors in Kirkuk province continues as gunmen shot dead a pharmacist in Domiz, south of the city, on Tuesday. In the past few months more than seven doctors have been killed by insurgents and at least five others have been kidnapped, according to security sources. The kidnapped doctors' fate still remains unknown."
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4 October 2011 | Rudaw
UN Official: Kurdistan Taking “Very Good Steps” On Human Rights

"A senior United Nations’ official in Iraq describes human rights conditions in the Kurdistan Region as “better” than other parts of Iraq."
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3 October 2011 | Al Arabiya
Iraqis displaced from Iran shelling face disease, lack of food

"Iran’s shelling of Kurdish separatist rebel bases in north Iraq has displaced hundreds of families, a migration group said Monday, voicing fears disease may spread in the camps where they are living."
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1 October 2011 | Kurdish Globe
NGO survey finds abuse against women rising

"In September, 25 women were murdered under the guise of "honor killings" in Kurdistan Region, states Warvin Institute for Women's Issues."
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17 September 2011 | Kurdish Globe
Unexploded chemical bomb found in Halabja

"An unexploded rocket carrying chemical warheads, dating back to the 1980s` Halabja chemical bombardment, was discovered in the Chawig resort area in Halabja town on September 14. Halabja`s Department of Health announced that eight people, including the director of the Health Department, were contaminated after the discovery of the rocket during excavation work last Wednesday."
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9 September 2011 | Human Rights Watch
Iraq: Radio Personality Shot Dead

"Iraqi authorities should conduct an immediate, full, and transparent investigation into the September 8, 2011 killing of Hadi al-Mahdi, a popular radio journalist often critical of the government, at his home in Baghdad, and prosecute those responsible, Human Rights Watch said today."
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8 September 2011 | Reporters Without Borders
Lvin Magazine editor beaten by special forces, held for three hours

"Reporters Without Borders condemns yesterday’s illegal arrest and beating of Lvin Magazine editor Ahmed Mira by special forces in Sulaymaniyah, in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. Mira was held for three hours before being freed by a judge."
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8 September 2011 | The New York Times
Report Details British Abuses in Iraq

"A major inquiry into the most notorious case of detainee abuse by British soldiers in Iraq described “a very great stain on the reputation of the army” in its report issued Thursday, detailing a series of gruesome abuses by servicemen in a regiment with a 300-year history of battle honors abroad."
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8 September 2011 | Niqash
Mutilated and maimed: Iraqis who had ears cut off by Saddam Hussein still waiting for compensation

"Faced with growing defections from the Iraqi army in the mid 90s, then-leader Saddam Hussein instituted extreme punishments for those who deserted. Today men whose faces were tattooed or had their ears cut off are still waiting for compensation."
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2 September 2011 | New York Times
Suicide Bombs in Iraq Have Killed 12,000 Civilians, Study Says

"While sophisticated roadside bombs have taken a heavy toll on American troops over the course of the war here, suicide bombings have largely been a hallmark of sectarian warfare. Independent researchers have now tried to quantify their damage, poring through data compiled from death reports to conclude that more than 12,000 Iraqis have been killed in at least 1,000 suicide attacks since the American-led invasion."
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2 September 2011 | Human Rights Watch
Iraqi Kurdistan: Cross-Border Attacks Should Spare Iraqi Civilians

"Iran and Turkey’s cross-border attacks in Iraqi Kurdistan have killed at least 10 civilians and displaced hundreds since mid-July 2011, Human Rights Watch said today. Some of the attacks may have been carried out without sufficient attempts to ensure minimal impact on civilians, Human Rights Watch said."
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30 August 2011 | Human Rights Watch
Iraqi Kurdistan: Prominent Kurdish Journalist Assaulted

"The Kurdistan Regional Government should conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into the attack on the prominent journalist Asos Hardi on August 29, 2011, and prosecute whoever is responsible, Human Rights Watch said today."
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24 August 2011 | International Committee of the Red Cross
Households headed by women in Iraq: a case for action

"This survey was conducted between September and December 2010 in five governorates directly affected by the conflict. The vast majority (92%) of the women interviewed were widows; the others were wives of detainees or of men who had gone missing, or divorcees. City officials, village heads, religious leaders and local NGOs were also interviewed to find out how they viewed women heading households."
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20 August 2011 | Kurdish Globe
More Anfal remains coming home

"During the past three months, the Kurdistan Region courts received warrants to arrest former Baath agents accused of committing crimes against Kurdish people in the past. The decision was issued by the Judicial Council and submitted to all the Region's courts to take the decision into consideration. To date, none of the accused have been arrested."
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20 August 2011 | Kurdish Globe
Yezidis find it hard to make a living in Erbil

"Young Yezidi men come to Erbil hoping to find a job that will help them support their families, but low-paying opportunities mean they sometimes have a hard time paying their own way."
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16 August 2011 | Rudaw
Kurds Face Fresh Threats In Diyala

"Muhammad Ali, a 42-year-old Kurdish shop owner, fled the ethnically mixed town of Jalawla in Diyala province nine months ago after facing “terror and threats” by armed groups."
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15 August 2011 | BBC
The Iraqi children abandoning school for work

"With the consent of their parents, more and more children in Iraq are abandoning school to start work, while many others take jobs during their school holidays. Although there are no official statistics for child labour in Iraq, officials insist it is a phenomenon that requires attention."
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13 August 2011 | The Kurdish Globe
Shelling on border areas displaces 235 families

"Iranian shelling in Kurdistan border areas has been going on for a month. Residents have been forced from their homes, and have yet to receive assistance or compensation."
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10 August 2011 | Niqash
Scars that won't heal: Iraq recognises Fayli Kurd persecution as 'genocide'

"At the beginning of this month, the Iraqi parliament declared the past regime’s persecution of Kurdish minority, the Faylis, genocide. Former victims recount deportation and torture but say this move by the government gives them hope for the future."
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6 August 2011 | Kurdish Globe
Child abuse law approved in Kurdistan

"After Kurdistan Parliament approved the child abuse law, it sent it to be endorsed by Kurdistan President Massoud Barzani. Some Islamic parties and the Kurdistan Islamic Scholars' Union asked the president to veto the law."
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3 August 2011 | Rudaw
Debate Lingers Over Regulating Kurdistan’s Sex Trade

"Prostitution has become a hot topic of debate for legislators and activists in Iraqi Kurdistan, with some arguing that the sex trade should be legalized and regulated."
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27 July 2011 | Niqash
Homeless at home: Iraq's displaced persons cause ethnic tensions

"There are over two million displaced Iraqis. And some of the most unfortunate are the Bidun. Border disputes and messy bureaucracy sees them stateless in their own country. As a result, they can’t even buy a mobile phone."
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21 July 2011 | Reporters Without Borders
Tribute to young journalist gunned down in Kirkuk three years ago today

"Reporters Without Borders reiterates its appeal to the judicial authorities to shed light on the murder of the Kurdish journalist Soran Hama Mama, who was shot in his home in the Kirkuk suburb of Rasheed Awa by four gunmen on 21 July 2008, exactly three years ago today."
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18 July 2011 | Reporters Without Borders
Resumption of physical attacks on reporters

"Many journalists have been the target of deliberate physical attacks in the past week as police officers and members of the security forces of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two main parties that form the government in Iraqi Kurdistan, looked on without intervening."
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16 July 2011 | Rudaw
Kurdistan’s Human Rights Commission Still Not Established

"Nearly two years ago the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) conceived of a Human Rights Commission to replace the dissolved Ministry of Human Rights. The commission, however, has never been established."
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12 July 2011 | Human Rights Watch
Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees

"This 107-page report presents substantial information warranting criminal investigations of Bush and senior administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as “waterboarding,” the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured."
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10 July 2011 | AFP
Mass Graves Found in Iraq

"The remains of 222 people, probably Kurds killed under Iraq's former regime in 1987, were extracted from a mass grave south of Baghdad, the authorities said on Sunday. […] Iraqi authorities announced on Wednesday they had discovered another mass grave with 900 corpses in the Shanafiyah region near the city of Diwaniyah."
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4 July 2011 | IRIN
Iraq: A bad place for children

"Decades of war and international sanctions have turned Iraq into one of the worst places for children in the Middle East and North Africa, with around 3.5 million living in poverty, 1.5 million under the age of five undernourished and 100 infants dying every day, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warns."
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30 June 2011 | Human Rights Watch
Iraq: Attacks by Government-Backed Thugs Chill Protests

"Iraqi authorities should order a prompt and impartial inquiry into the role of state security forces in attacks by pro-government gangs against peaceful demonstrators in Baghdad on June 10, 2011."
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29 June 2011 | Open Democracy
Sharia and Egypt’s Constitution: an Iraqi Blueprint

"The constitutional debates that took place in the run-up to the formation of the current Iraqi constitution provide a blueprint for the questions Islamic parties must address if they are to be insiders to the process of consolidating democracy."
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23 June 2011 | WADI
Kurdish Regional Parliament Passes a Law to Ban Female Genital Mutilation

"June 22nd was a good day for women and girls in Iraq. Kurdistan Regional Parliament passed with great majority a bill that bans Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) as a harmful act. Performing FGM is penalized under the new law."
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9 June 2011 | Middle East Institute
Iraqi Refugees and IDPs: From Humanitarian Intervention to Durable Solutions

"Contributions on Iraqi refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) prepared for this project examine the humanitarian response to internal and external displacement following the removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime in April 2003. […] It is important to mention at the outset that displacement has been a long-term feature of Iraq. Previous episodes of internal displacement resulted from policies of population engineering and repression by the Baathist regime that directly affected as many as one million people."
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7 June 2011 | UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
UN Official Urges Stronger Action to Protect Iraqi Civilians

"At the end of his 10-day visit to Iraq, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, Ivan Šimonović, today urged the government to do more to protect civilians from violence. […] »As a signal of the seriousness of its intent to tackle the problem, I urge the government to complete ratification of the Convention Against Torture as soon as possible,« he said."
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1 June 2011 | Committee to Protect Journalists
Impunity Index Spotlights Countries Where Journalists are Slain and Killers Go Free

"The countries at the top of the index - Iraq, Somalia, and the Philippines - showed either no improvement or even worsening records. Iraq, with an impunity rating three times worse than that of any other nation, is ranked first for the fourth straight year. Although crossfire and other conflict-related deaths have dropped in Iraq in recent years, the targeted killings of journalists spiked in 2010."
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