About 1,500 children are being detained by federal and Kurdish authorities in Iraq for alleged links to the Islamic State group, Human Rights Watch says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A new report says the children are often arbitrarily arrested and tortured to force confessions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HRW urges the federal and Kurdistan Region’s governments to amend anti-terrorism laws to end such detentions, saying they violate international law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Iraqi and Kurdish officials have so far made no comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Kurdistan Region’s government has previously rejected an HRW report which alleged that children were being tortured to confess to IS links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January, an official said its policy was to “rehabilitate” such children; torture was prohibited; and children were afforded the same rights as other prisoners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 53-page report says that at the end of 2018\u00a0the Iraqi and Kurdish authorities were holding about 1,500 children for alleged IS links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least 185 foreign children have been convicted on terrorism charges and sentenced to jail terms, HRW cites the Iraqi government as saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report alleges that the local authorities:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“This sweeping, punitive approach is not justice, and will create lifelong negative consequences for many of these children,” said Joe Becker, children’s rights advocacy director for HRW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last November, HRW interviewed 29 children held for alleged IS affiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It says 19 of them reported that they had been tortured, including beatings with plastic pipes, electric cables or rods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A 17-year-old boy detained by Iraqi security forces in 2017 said he was beaten on the soles of his feet and repeatedly suspended by his wrists for 10 minutes at a time by interrogators. They told him that he should confess to joining IS for three days, which he eventually did, according to the report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After his trial he was transferred to a prison at Baghdad airport, where he remained for seven-and-a-half months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Every day was torture. We were beaten every day, all of us,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One 14 year old said he was tortured into making a confession by officers from the Kurdish Asayish police force in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“They were beating me all over my body with plastic pipes,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“First they said I should say I was with IS, so I agreed. Then they told me I had to say I worked for IS for three months. I told them I was not part of IS, but they said, ‘No, you have to say it.'”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also points out that most of those interviewed said they had joined IS because of economic need, peer or family pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some cited family problems or a desire to gain social status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HRW says that those Iraqi children who have been released are afraid to return home because of the stigma of IS membership and a threat of reprisals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The human rights group stresses that international law recognises children recruited by armed groups primarily as victims who should be rehabilitated and reintegrated into society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
About 1,500 children are being detained by federal and Kurdish authorities in Iraq for alleged links to the Islamic State group, Human Rights Watch says. A new report says the children are often arbitrarily arrested and tortured to force confessions. HRW urges the federal and Kurdistan Region’s governments to amend anti-terrorism laws to end such detentions, saying they violate international… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3216,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions\/3216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/middleeastandnorthafricablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}