The armed conflict in Iraq has had a devastating impact on civilians. The armed group calling itself the Islamic State (IS) has committed crimes under international law including war crimes and crimes against humanity in territories under its control and launched deadly bombings and other attacks elsewhere in Iraq. Government forces and paramilitary militias have also compounded the suffering of civilians by committing war crimes and other serious human rights violations in their battle to reclaim territory from IS and eradicate its ability to carry out deadly violence.

The authorities face grave security threats and have the right and duty to protect the lives and physical security of all civilians on their territory or subject to their jurisdiction. However, Amnesty International’s research shows that security forces and paramilitary militias have consistently committed serious human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law with impunity in the name of countering these threats. They have subjected Sunni Arabs who have fled territories controlled by IS to arbitrary detention, torture, enforced disappearance and unlawful killing after capturing them or placing them in custody, most recently in the course of the main military operations of 2016, namely in the context of the successful battles to retake Falluja and surrounding areas in Anbar governorate in May and June 2006, clashes to push IS out of al-Sharqat in Salah al-Din governorate between June and late September 2016, and the ongoing conflict in Hawija in Kirkuk governorate and in Mosul and surrounding areas in Ninewa governorate.

Amnesty International’s conclusions are primarily based on findings gathered during a visit to Iraq between 27 July and 18 August 2016, in the course of which the organization’s researchers interviewed over 470 former detainees, witnesses and relatives of those killed, detained or disappeared, as well as dozens of officials, lawyers, activists and others in the governorates of Anbar, Baghdad, Diyala, Dohuk, Erbil, Kirkuk, Salah al-Din and Sulaymaniya.