Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Civilians Suffer in Iraq and Syria

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Civilians Suffer in Iraq and Syria

The endless conflagration in Iraq and Syria leads to great turbulence and civilians continue to bear the brunt of this conflict. The humanitarian law is widely violated and the non-combatants’ rights and dignity are trampled upon. According to a top UN humanitarian affairs official, as the war in Syria went into its fifth year, more than 220,000 are dead and over 11 million refugees internally displaced.

The conflict, which began in mid-March 2011, has already claimed more than 220,000 lives, according to UN estimates; more than 12.2 million people continue to require essential aid to continue to live and more than 4 million have become refugees in neighboring countries.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned it no longer has the funds to care for victims of the Syrian war: by the end of last year, less than half of the UN assistance plan for Syria was funded.

For its part, the Security Council also highlighted the lack of funding, which it said had “forced humanitarian agencies to reduce food rations” by 30 per cent, to people who depend on them for survival.

Every year of the conflict has seen an exponential growth in refugees. In 2012, there were 100,000 refugees. By April 2013, there were 800,000. That doubled to 1.6 million in less than four months. There are now more than four million Syrians scattered throughout the region, making them the world’s largest refugee population under the United Nations’ mandate.

At this rate, the U.N. predicts there could be 4.27 million Syrian refugees by the end of 2015 — the worst exodus since the Rwandan genocide 20 years ago.

The youngest refugees face an uncertain future. Some schools have been able to divide the school day into two shifts and make room for more Syrian students. But there is simply not enough space for all the children, and many families cannot afford the transportation to get their kids to school.

However in Iraq, expectations are far lower and political support for the mission among lawmakers, the White House and the American people is far more tenuous. The goal in Iraq “is to retake lost territory.”

After the collapse of Saddam’s regime, Iraqi government did not reach to agreement with the U.S. that would allow a number of U.S. troops to stay for training and giving advice to Iraqi soldiers. What followed was a slow deterioration and collapse of the Iraqi Army and police forces that U.S. commanders had built at tremendous cost.

The civilians in Iraq do not suffer less than Syrians. Last year, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay condemned the appalling, widespread and systematic deprivation of human rights in Iraq by the self-proclaimed Islamic State and associated forces.

The violations include targeted killings, forced conversions, abductions, trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse, destruction of places of religious and cultural significance, and the besieging of entire communities because of ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation.

“Grave, horrific human rights violations are being committed daily by ISIL and associated armed groups,” Pillay said. “They are systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control. Such persecution would amount to crimes against humanity.”

Last year in Nineveh Governorate, hundreds of mostly Yezidi individuals were reported killed and up to 2,500 kidnapped. The abductees were reportedly being held in various locations in Tal Afar and Mosul. Individuals who agreed to convert were being held under ISIS guard. Of those who refused to convert, witnesses report that the men were executed while the women and their children were taken as slaves and either handed over to ISIS fighters as slaves or threatened with being sold.

U.S. officials have claimed that Iraqis morale is on the wane to fight against ISIS. “What did the U.S. military learn from the last decade of support to the Iraqi army?” asked Emma Sky, author of “The Unraveling,” who spent four years in Iraq as a senior adviser to the U.S. military. “We can give the Iraqi army lots of equipment and training, but we cannot address the psychology and morale of the force and its willingness to fight.”

However, some Iraqis complain that the U.S. sat on its hands while tension was going on. The Americans insist they are trying to avoid civilian casualties, and claim significant successes. Privately, officials say they do not want to be seen hammering Sunni strongholds in a sectarian war and risk upsetting their Sunni allies in the Gulf.

However, the game is and whoever plays the main role, civilians, including women and children, are the sacrificial lambs within the violence and bloodshed going on in Iraq and Syria. Since this lethal conflagration continues unabated, millions of people are afflicted with the miseries. The transgression of the non-combatants’ rights and dignity – which outrages humans’ conscience – put the international community under question for playing the role of onlooker. Syria’s war is entering its fifth year and millions of people lost their lives, displaced and dishonored, however international community failed to cease it.

It is believed that ISIS, as violence runs in their blood, has changed to a global threat. And they are the greatest cause for the people’s death and miseries. Therefore, the world has to root them out and do not let them to lay further eggs. Moreover, the international community is supposed to take serious action to end the humanitarian catastrophe.

Hujjatullah Zia is the permanent writer of the Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at zia_hujjat@yahoo.com

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