Human Rights: Iraq

The State Department's annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2006 was released Tuesday. This is a generally excellent review and worth a thorough look. I'm offering up some brief summaries and parsing on the Middle East reports, starting now with the Iraq report.

--It largely gives Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki a free pass, arguing that "sectarian-driven violence, acts of terrorism, and revenge by armed groups in a climate of criminality and impunity undercut government efforts to establish and maintain the rule of law." At the same time, the report condemns the militia of al Maliki's ally, Moqtada Sadr, for a good deal of the violence and says that the Sadr militia continued to be present inside the Iraqi Security Forces and possibly the Justice Ministry's prison system.

--The report cites numerous examples of human rights abuses committed by the Iraqi government: Death squads affiliated with the Interior Ministry kidnapped and killed Sunnis around Baghdad with impunity; Rogue policemen were involved in sectarian kidnappings; According to other rights reports highlighted by the State Department report, detainees held in several Interior Ministry and Defense Ministry detention facilities and in Kurdish Regional Government security forces detention facilities were tortured and abused in incidents including "application of electric shocks, fingernail extractions, and other severe beatings" and cases where "police threatened and sexually abused detainees and visiting family members."

--The report mentions nothing about any Iranian role in sponsoring or stirring up the violence--in contrast with recent Bush administration declarations about Iranian involvement in sectarian killings and attacks on American forces.

--It offers no comment or criticism of what Amnesty International, for one, called "a fundamentally flawed process" in the trial and subsequent hanging on Dec. 30 of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

--Vital Stats: Government detainees numbered 16,308 at year's end--the "great majority being Sunni"; Violence triggered by the Samarra shrine bombing on Feb. 22 caused the displacement of 380,000 to 500,000 Iraqis, bringing to 1.7 million the number of Iraqis who have left their homes for refuge elsewhere in the country; As many as 34,452 Iraqi civilians died violently in 2006, nearly half of them in Baghdad alone.

--The report overall presents an extremely bleak overview of what it calls "widespread human rights abuses," in stark contrast with the model for a model democratic Iraq that was touted by the Iraq war's advocates:

"Pervasive climate of violence; misappropriation of official authority by sectarian, criminal, terrorist, and insurgent groups; arbitrary deprivation of life; disappearances; torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment; impunity; poor conditions in pretrial detention facilities; arbitrary arrest and detention; denial of fair public trial; an immature judicial system lacking capacity; limitations on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association due to terrorist and militia violence; restrictions on religious freedom; large numbers of internally displaced persons (IDPs); lack of transparency and widespread corruption at all levels of government; constraints on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs); discrimination against women, ethnic, and religious minorities; and limited exercise of labor rights."

--Naturally, the State Department report does not deal with human rights abuses associated with U.S. forces in Iraq. For reports on that issue, see Human Rights Watch World Report 2007 and the Amnesty International Report 2006, the latest available. Covering the year 2005, the Amnesty Report asserted that "both the US-led Multinational Force (MNF) and Iraqi security forces committed grave human rights violations, including torture and ill-treatment, arbitrary detention without charge or trial, and excessive use of force resulting in civilian deaths." The most recent HRW report states that the war in Iraq and overall war on terrorism has resulted in "an enormous loss for the human rights cause."

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo