Iraq criticized for concealing casualty figures, 'disappearances'

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) criticized Baghdad on Apr. 25 for concealing the casualty figures from its sectarian war and charged that many detainees have "disappeared." While placing the blame for the majority of violent civilian deaths on the insurgents and illegal militias fighting in Iraq, UNAMI expressed concern about the human rights record of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government. In its quarterly report on the human rights situation, the UN mission said the Iraqi government had stopped providing casualty figures and denied that its previous reports had exaggerated the death toll in the conflict. In a Jan. 16 report, UNAMI said more than 34,400 people had died in the daily acts of violence across the country in 2006. "The prime minister's office told UNAMI that the mortality figures contained in the report were exaggerated, although they were in fact figures compiled and provided by a government ministry," UNAMI said. "It was a matter of regret that the Iraqi government did not provide UNAMI with access to the ministry of health's overall mortality figures for the reporting period. "UNAMI emphasizes again the utmost need for the Iraqi government to operate in a transparent manner and does not accept the government's suggestion that UNAMI used the mortality figures in an inappropriate fashion." At a news conference in Baghdad's fortified administrative compound to launch the latest report, UN human rights officer Ivana Vuco insisted that the casualty "figures are probably the most carefully screened." "Unofficially, in follow-up meetings, we were told that the government was concerned that people would misconstrue the [withheld] figures to portray a grim situation," she said. Maliki's office hit back at the UN mission and complained that its latest report lacked credibility. "Despite the Iraqi government's full cooperation and transparency in dealing with the UN delegation in Iraq, much of the information contained in the report was not taken from credible sources," it said. Two US Embassy officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, convened a conference call with reporters to criticize the report. "There are numerous factual inaccuracies," one official said. The officials said they did not believe the Iraqi government was trying to withhold information but is attempting to consolidate the death toll figures into some "verifiable system." While being unable to provide statistics because of the government's decision, the new report for the first quarter of 2007 said violence remained a serious problem in Iraq, despite a US and Iraqi security operation. "In February and March, sectarian violence claimed the lives of large numbers of civilians, including women and children, in both Shiite and Sunni neighborhoods," the report said. "While government officials claimed an initial drop in the number of killings in the latter half of February following the launch of the Baghdad Security Plan, the number of reported casualties rose again in March." Iraqi and US officials insist the civilian death toll from Iraq's sectarian war has declined since the plan began on Feb. 14, but refuse to release detailed figures to back up the assertion. In official tallies of civilian deaths compiled by the US military, fatalities resulting from car bombs are not counted. UNAMI said that "violent deaths were a regular feature of several other cities in the governorates of Nineveh, Salaheddin, Diyala and Babel" and not just Baghdad, the center of the bloodshed. The UN report also criticizes the authorities for the ongoing use of torture and possible collusion between armed militias and Iraqi security forces. It condemned the use of torture and other inhumane treatment in detention centers under the authority of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense. Vuco said that the Baghdad Security Plan seeks to quell the violence but it also had increased the potential for the abuse of detainees' human rights. "The disappearance of detainees still continues," she said. "We have serious concerns that not all detainees are being registered. We found people looking for detained family members who they were unable to locate." Most of these detainees are held for "prolonged periods of time without charge in overcrowded conditions," she said. "Security detainees are denied access to defense council during first 60 days of internment," and "continued failure of the Iraqi government as a whole to seriously address issues relating to detainee abuse and conditions of detention" are of concern, reads the report. At least 37,641 people were being held in detention centers across Iraq as of the end of March, UNAMI said, adding that of these about 3,000 were detained since the Baghdad crackdown began. The US-led coalition continues to hold 17,898 people, while the rest were in the custody of Iraqi authorities. The report cited concern with the US military's "indefinite internment of detainees" and people "held for prolonged periods effectively without charge or trial." Vuco said that UN officials "are aware of the fact that they have US lawyers deal with the detainees' cases. However, what we are saying is that detainees have not been allowed to have their own lawyers present, which is the process that we would advocate for." Commenting on the mounting refugee crisis, UNAMI said that at least 736,422 Iraqis had fled their homes since the sectarian unrest flared up in February last year, on top of 1.2 million who had been displaced previously. The report found the rate of ethnic cleansing accelerating in Baghdad as the city becomes increasingly divided along Shia and Sunni lines. The UNAMI report also described the deterioration of freedom of expression affecting media and media workers, religious and ethnic minorities, and professional groups including academics who are continuously targeted by religious extremists and armed groups in all areas of Iraq. It said that journalists in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region face arrest and harassment for reporting on government corruption and poor public services. While most journalists' deaths in Iraq took place in Baghdad, the report said most arrests of journalists it recorded between January and March were carried out by the Kurdish security forces. "The [Kurdish] authorities continued to subject journalists to harassment, arrest and legal actions for their reporting on government corruption, poor public services or other issues of public interest," the report said. UNAMI also criticized Kurdish officials for failing to tackle frequent cases of so-called "honor killings" of women and said hundreds of detainees in Kurdish prisons were being held without charge.