BBC online :
Islamic State militants are trying to eradicate Iraqi minority groups from large parts of the country, human rights organisations have warned.
A report details summary executions, forced conversions, rape and other abuses suffered by minorities.
Such acts are tantamount to war crimes, and in some cases, genocide, it argues.
Iraqi minorities face a “threat to their existence”, said the Institute of International Law and Human Rights (IILHR), one of the groups involved.
Focusing on Iraq’s Christian, Kaka’i, Shabak, Turkmen and Yazidi populations, the report looks at their plight after the fall of Mosul to IS in June 2014, a key point in the rise of a group that now controls swathes of the country.
Minorities were soon targeted, the report details. Christians were told to leave Mosul or face execution.
At least 160 Shabak were killed. Others were forced out and left their belongings behind, which turned them “into beggars”, one Iraqi MP is quoted as saying.
Elsewhere, after their assault on Sinjar, IS reportedly used Yazidis as human shields. Others were abducted or killed.
Across the country, minorities are facing “a systematic strategy to remove them permanently from large areas of Iraq”, the report concludes.
“Minorities were first caught by wholesale discrimination and violence well before the arrival of ISIS,” said the IILHR director, William Spencer.
“Now they face a new threat to their existence from ISIS attacks.”
“The research done for this report shows very clearly that IS has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide,” said Alison Smith from No Peace Without Justice, another of the organisations involved.
The report makes a number of suggestions, including additional help for the large numbers displaced by the conflict, prosecution of crimes by the International Criminal Court, and better planning for the post-IS era.
It comes after IS seized more than 200 Christians from north-eastern Syria.
Reuters adds: International investigators said on Friday that in order for the Islamic State to remain financially viable it would have to further expand territory it controls in Iraq and Syria and take over more resources.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said in a report that the Islamist group’s need for large amounts of money to govern areas it has conquered meant it was uncertain how long it could finance its current level of activity.
“In order to maintain its financial management and expenditures in areas where it operates, (Islamic State) must be able to seize additional territory in order to exploit resources,” it said.
The task force, which is made up of government officials from around the world who are combating money laundering, noted that the group had generated large amounts of money by appropriating oil fields and from criminal activity such as theft and extortion.
“Cutting off these vast revenue streams is both a challenge and opportunity for the global community to defeat this terrorist organization,” the report said.
Degrading the group’s financial resources is one aspect of a campaign led by the United States to destroy Islamic State, ranging from military attacks to counter-propaganda.
The report said air strikes by the United States and its allies against Islamic State’s oil facilities as well as falling oil prices and the group’s own need for refined oil products had “significantly diminished” its revenues.
FATF said there was a “need to better identify the origin, middlemen, buyers, carriers, traders and routes through which oil produced in (Islamic State)-held territory is trafficked.”
Islamic State militants are trying to eradicate Iraqi minority groups from large parts of the country, human rights organisations have warned.
A report details summary executions, forced conversions, rape and other abuses suffered by minorities.
Such acts are tantamount to war crimes, and in some cases, genocide, it argues.
Iraqi minorities face a “threat to their existence”, said the Institute of International Law and Human Rights (IILHR), one of the groups involved.
Focusing on Iraq’s Christian, Kaka’i, Shabak, Turkmen and Yazidi populations, the report looks at their plight after the fall of Mosul to IS in June 2014, a key point in the rise of a group that now controls swathes of the country.
Minorities were soon targeted, the report details. Christians were told to leave Mosul or face execution.
At least 160 Shabak were killed. Others were forced out and left their belongings behind, which turned them “into beggars”, one Iraqi MP is quoted as saying.
Elsewhere, after their assault on Sinjar, IS reportedly used Yazidis as human shields. Others were abducted or killed.
Across the country, minorities are facing “a systematic strategy to remove them permanently from large areas of Iraq”, the report concludes.
“Minorities were first caught by wholesale discrimination and violence well before the arrival of ISIS,” said the IILHR director, William Spencer.
“Now they face a new threat to their existence from ISIS attacks.”
“The research done for this report shows very clearly that IS has committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly even genocide,” said Alison Smith from No Peace Without Justice, another of the organisations involved.
The report makes a number of suggestions, including additional help for the large numbers displaced by the conflict, prosecution of crimes by the International Criminal Court, and better planning for the post-IS era.
It comes after IS seized more than 200 Christians from north-eastern Syria.
Reuters adds: International investigators said on Friday that in order for the Islamic State to remain financially viable it would have to further expand territory it controls in Iraq and Syria and take over more resources.
The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said in a report that the Islamist group’s need for large amounts of money to govern areas it has conquered meant it was uncertain how long it could finance its current level of activity.
“In order to maintain its financial management and expenditures in areas where it operates, (Islamic State) must be able to seize additional territory in order to exploit resources,” it said.
The task force, which is made up of government officials from around the world who are combating money laundering, noted that the group had generated large amounts of money by appropriating oil fields and from criminal activity such as theft and extortion.
“Cutting off these vast revenue streams is both a challenge and opportunity for the global community to defeat this terrorist organization,” the report said.
Degrading the group’s financial resources is one aspect of a campaign led by the United States to destroy Islamic State, ranging from military attacks to counter-propaganda.
The report said air strikes by the United States and its allies against Islamic State’s oil facilities as well as falling oil prices and the group’s own need for refined oil products had “significantly diminished” its revenues.
FATF said there was a “need to better identify the origin, middlemen, buyers, carriers, traders and routes through which oil produced in (Islamic State)-held territory is trafficked.”
