Iraq Human Rights

Human Rights Concerns

Human rights violations of all stripes have increasingly plagued Iraq after the 2003 US invasion, from suicide bombings and persecution of religious minorities, to a refugee crisis and continued disappearances and illegal detentions.

In the midst of uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa, Iraqis have participated in protests across the country demanding jobs, electricity, clean water, and an end to government corruption. As in other Arab countries, peaceful protesters have been detained and some were killed.

Iraqi prisons suffer from crowding and unfavorable sanitary conditions, as about 30,000 Iraqis are held without trial or charge. Some are denied access to doctors and medications, and many are tortured. The Iraqi government has yet to investigate allegations of torture, especially in the cases forced confessions which led to death sentences.

While all Iraqis are at risk, minorities in Iraq are particularly susceptible to violence and persecution. More and more women are choosing to stay home rather than work or go to school, Christians have fled the country in great numbers, and gay men live in fear for their lives.

Journalists and human rights activists have been harassed, beaten, detained and even killed. While Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki has promised to protect their rights, including their freedom of speech, few killings have been investigated and a culture of impunity prevails.

New Order, Same Abuses: Unlawful Detentions and Torture in Iraq

Amnesty International's new report "New Order, Same Abuses: Unlawful Detentions and Torture in Iraq" highlights individual case studies of people detained without charges or trial for long periods of time; others tortured or ill-treated by Iraqi security forces, as well as cases of enforced disappearances.