Islamic State holding estimated 3,500 slaves in Iraq, says UN

Islamic State militants have enslaved an estimated 3,500 people in Iraq, primarily women and children from the Yazidi community, a UN report says.

The report says the terror group has committed atrocities in Iraq that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

“This report lays bare the enduring suffering of civilians in Iraq and starkly illustrates what Iraqi refugees are attempting to escape when they flee to Europe and other regions,” said the UN high commissioner for human rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein. “This is the horror they face in their homelands.”

Isis has held large swaths of Iraqi territory since it rampaged across the border from Syria in a lightning offensive in the summer of 2014, conquering much of Anbar province and the plains of Nineveh as well as the city of Mosul.

In recent months the group has faced setbacks, losing the cities of Ramadi and Sinjar, the homeland of the Yazidis, who are considered by the militants to be infidels whose death or enslavement is divinely sanctioned.

But pro-government forces face an uphill struggle in evicting Isis from Mosul, the largest population centre under the militants’ control, which remains the crown jewel of their self-proclaimed caliphate.

The fighting has fuelled large-scale displacement and civilian deaths as well as sectarian bloodletting that threatens Iraq’s existence as a state once the crisis has ended.

Isis’s campaign has essentially ended centuries of coexistence in northern Iraq, largely emptying Nineveh of its Christian population, which has chosen exile over slaughter or life under the Islamic State regime. The group has also destroyed countless artefacts and historical sites in the province, including treasures from the Assyrian and Akkadian empires and the Mosul museum.

The UN report details specific incidents of sexual violence and enslavement, including:

• A Yazidi woman who was shot after trying to escape from her captors. Her body was left on the side of the road.
• 42 Yazidi who women were sent to Deir ez-Zor in Syria, the majority of which is held by Isis, and sold as sex slaves for between $500 and $2,000 (£350-£1,400).
• 19 women who were killed in Mosul for refusing to have sex with fighters.
  
• A Qur’an memorisation contest in which the top three winners would receive sex slaves as prizes.
  

It was unclear whether the UN had attempted to verify these specific incidents or the numbers of slaves said to be held by Isis, or whether it had simply relayed claims by local notables and Yazidi and Kurdish leaders.

The report is based on interviews with the displaced and direct testimony from victims, survivors or witnesses of rights abuses.

It tallies the staggering toll on civilians over the past two years, documenting 18,802 deaths, the wounding of more than 36,000 people and the displacement of 3.2 million inside the country, including more than a million children of school age.

Killings by shooting, beheading, bulldozing and burning alive are detailed, as well as cases of people being thrown off the top of buildings.

It says the UN has information about the murder of child soldiers and has verified reports suggesting 800 to 900 children in Mosul have been abducted for military and religious training.

In one incident, the UN documents the apparent murder of 18 boys under 18 by Isis after they deserted the frontlines in Anbar. Isis has used child soldiers, dubbed the “cubs of the caliphate”, in video releases showing the killings of alleged spies and captives.

In one such video, children are seen killing hostages captured during the militants’ conquest of the historic city of Palmyra in Syria, shooting them in the back of the head at the city’s ancient Roman amphitheatre.

The report covers the period from January 2014 to October 2015 and was compiled by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and the office of the high commissioner for human rights.

Pro-government forces are criticised for arbitrary arrests and retribution against civilians who they believe have aided or received support from Isis without taking the necessary precautions to verify such claims.

The Hashd al-Shaabi, a conglomeration of mostly Shia militias, has played a key role in retaking land conquered by Isis, but observers say their role will inflame sectarian tensions and they have been accused of forcibly displacing people and committing crimes in areas liberated from Isis control.

The UN said it had also documented the existence of mass graves in sites where Isis had been expelled, as well as ones from the era of Saddam Hussein’s rule. One such mass grave east of the southern city of Basra contained the corpses of 377 individuals, including women and children, who were murdered by Baathist forces during Shia uprisings against Saddam in 1991 after his defeat in the first Gulf war by a coalition led by the United States.