At a crossroads
Subtitle: human rights in Iraq eight years after the US-led invasion
By: Human Rights Watch
Contributors: Human Rights Watch (Organization)
Publisher: Human Rights Watch
Published: 2011
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 102
ISBN-13: 9781564327369
Subjects: Human rights; Violence against; Journalists; Civil rights; Minorities; People with disabilities; Freedom of expression; Women's rights; Iraq War, 2003-; Detention of persons
Other titles: Human rights in Iraq eight years after the US-led invasion
Description: "Almost eight years after US-led forces invaded Iraq, the country's commitment to meeting its human rights obligations is far from assured. In 2010, Human Rights Watch conducted research in seven cities across Iraq and found that, beyond the continuing violence and crimes associated with it, human rights abuses are commonplace. The rights of Iraq's most vulnerable citizens, especially women and detainees, are violated with impunity, and those who would expose official malfeasance or abuses by armed groups do so at enormous risk.  The rise in tribal customs and religiously-inflected political extremism since 2003 has had a deleterious effect on women's rights.  Increasingly, women and girls are victimized in their own homes for a variety of perceived transgressions against family or community honor. Trafficking in women and girls in and out of the country for sexual exploitation is widespread.  Extremists and unknown assailants continue to kill journalists and bomb their offices. Increasingly, journalists find themselves harassed, intimidated, threatened, detained, and physically assaulted by security forces attached to government institutions or political parties. Iraqi interrogators routinely abuse detainees, regardless of sect, usually in order to coerce confessions. Thousands of internally displaced persons now reside in squatter settlements without access to basic necessities such as clean water, electricity and sanitation.  Armed groups proclaiming intolerant ideologies have continued their assaults on minority communities, decimating Iraq's indigenous populations, and forcing thousands to flee abroad with no plans to return. And years of armed conflict have resulted in thousands of war amputees who find themselves relegated to the margins of society, unable to find work, access adequate medical care, or obtain new prostheses and wheelchairs."--P. [4] of cover.
Notes: "February 2011"--Table of contents page.

"Samer Muscati, researcher in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Division of Human Rights Watch, authored this report based on research conducted in Iraq with consultant Olivier Bercault in April 2010."--P. 97.

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available online.
Table of contents: title: Summary; title: Methodology; title: I. Rights of Women and Girls; title: Background; title: Targeting Female Leaders and Activists; title: Trafficking and Forced Prostitution; title: Penalizing Victims; title: Government Response to Trafficking; title: Family Violence; title: Honor crimes; title: Domestic violence; title: Female-headed Households, Widows, and Other Vulnerable Women; title: International Standards Protecting the Rights of Women and Girls; title: National Standards Concerning the Rights of Women and Girls; title: II. Freedom of Expression; title: Background; title: Violence Against Journalists; title: Attacks by Unknown Armed Groups; title: Violence linked to State and Political Party-Affiliated Forces; title: - Harassment, Threats, and Assaults against Journalists; title: Legal and Regulatory Barriers to Free Expression; title: Restrictions on Photography; title: Civil and Criminal Defamation Suits; title: New Regulatory Barriers and Legislative Inaction; title: International Standards Protecting Freedom of Expression; title: National Standards on Freedom of Expression; title: III. Torture of Detainees; title: Background; title: Secret Facility at Muthanna Airport; title: Reliance on Confessions; title: Government Inaction and Denials; title: International Standards Prohibiting Torture; title: National Standards Prohibiting Torture; title: IV. Marginalized Communities; title: Internally Displaced Persons; title: Religious and Ethnic Minorities; title: Sabian Mandaeans; title: Chaldo-Assyrians; title: Shabaks; title: Shabaks; title: Persons with Disabilities; title: Physical Disabilities; title: Invisible Impacts of War; title: International Standards Protecting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; title: International Standards Protecting Minority Rights; title: National Standards Protecting the Rights of Minorities and Persons with Disabilities; title: Recommendations; title: To the Government of Iraq; title: To the Governments of the United States and the United Kingdom; title: Acknowledgments; title: Annex.