Friday, March 29, 2024

Baghdad

U.N. urges Iraq to halt “forced evictions” from Mosul

 U.N. urges Iraq to halt “forced evictions” from Mosul

Displaced Iraqi civilians rescued at the site of battle rest at the positions of Iraqi forces at the Old City in Mosul, Iraq June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro

Displaced Iraqi civilians rescued at the site of battle rest at the positions of Iraqi forces at the Old City in Mosul, Iraq June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro
(Reuters/IraqiNews.com) The United Nations called on the Iraqi government on Friday to intervene to halt “imminent” forced evictions of many people suspected of having ties to Islamic State from the city of Mosul.

Hundreds of families have received threatening letters laying down a deadline for leaving, mainly under tribal agreements, which amount to “acts of vengeance”, U.N. human rights spokesmman Rupert Colville said.

“We urge the Iraqi Government to take action to halt such imminent evictions or any type of collective punishment, and to reinforce the formal justice system to bring perpetrators to justice,” he told a Geneva news briefing.

On June 20th, Mosul city council decided to deport the families of Islamic State fighters and to relocate them to special camps in order to rehabilitate them mentally.

In a statement, the council said it would no longer allow receiving migrant Islamic State fighters families arriving from other provinces. The existing families are to be deported and sheltered in camps where they will be “psychologically and ideologically rehabilitated and integrated with society once they prove responsive to that process.”

The council’s plan also involved a ban on internal migration in Mosul, and to ensure that migrant families are returned to the very same residences they occupied before June 2014 except those who had lost their dwelling.

Iraqi security forces are currently cornering IS militants in the Old City in western Mosul. Forces recaptured eastern Mosul in January, and have been screening the population there in search for IS-linked individuals and arresting suspects. Security forces have regularly caught IS-affiliated militants sneaking in the middle of displaced civilians.

The war against Islamic State militants in Mosul has displaced at least 900.000 civilians since their launch in October 2016.

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