Isis holding 3,500 women and children as ‘slaves’ in Iraq, UN says

Islamic State is holding an estimated 3,500 women and children as slaves in Iraq, the United Nations says. The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq and the UN’s human rights office say that Isis militants are imposing a harsh rule - marked by gruesome public executions. Their report documents widespread abuses that “in some instances amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide”. Methods of execution include shooting, beheading, bulldozing, burning people alive and throwing them off the top of buildings.

Even the obscene casualty figures fail to accurately reflect exactly how terribly civilians are suffering in Iraq.

UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein

Those being held as slaves are primarily women and children from the Yazidi community, but a number are from other ethnic and religious minority communities, according to the report issued in Geneva. The UN also said it had verified reports on child soldiers, saying that 800-900 youngsters had been abducted in the Iraqi city of Mosul for military and religious training. Between the beginning of 2014 and the end of October 2015, it said that at least 18,802 civilians had been killed in Iraq, and another 36,245 wounded.

The figures capture those who were killed or maimed by overt violence, but countless others have died from the lack of access to basic food, water or medical care.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein

Middle East