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Amnesty International Report 2017/18

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO ISLAMIC STATE

In both Syria and Iraq, a US-led international coalition refocused its attention on combating IS, 

which was responsible for gross abuses. Hundreds of civilians were killed as a result. In Mosul, 

Iraq’s second city, IS forcibly displaced thousands of civilians into zones of active hostilities in 

an attempt to shield their own fighters, and deliberately killed civilians fleeing the fighting and 

hung their bodies in public areas as a warning to others. In the battle to drive IS out of west 

Mosul, Iraqi and coalition forces launched a series of disproportionate or otherwise 

indiscriminate attacks to devastating effect; hundreds of civilians were killed. Iraqi forces 

consistently used explosive weapons which affected a large area, such as improvised rocket-

assisted munitions, which cannot be precisely targeted at military objectives or used lawfully in 

densely populated civilian areas.

In Syria, IS lost control of Raqqa governorate following a military campaign by the Syrian 

Democratic Forces, consisting of Syrian-Kurdish and Arab armed groups, and the US-led 

coalition. IS prevented residents from fleeing and used civilians as human shields, as well as 

carrying out direct attacks on civilians and indiscriminate attacks, killing and injuring civilians. 

The coalition’s air strikes also caused hundreds of civilian casualties. Syrian government 

forces, supported by Iranian and Hezbollah fighters on the ground and Russian air power, 

captured other areas previously held by IS and other armed groups. In doing so, they killed 

and injured civilians in indiscriminate attacks and direct attacks on civilians and civilian 

objects, including homes, hospitals and medical facilities.

SIEGES AND DISPLACEMENT OF CIVILIANS IN SYRIA

The Syrian government continued to maintain lengthy sieges of predominantly civilian areas, 

depriving some 400,000 people of access to medical care, other basic goods and services and 

humanitarian assistance, while subjecting them to repeated air strikes, artillery shelling and 

other attacks. Armed opposition groups were also responsible for besieging thousands of 

civilians and carrying out indiscriminate rocket and mortar attacks on government-controlled 

neighbourhoods, killing and injuring civilians. Thousands of civilians experienced the harsh 

impact of forced displacement following “reconciliation” agreements in the second half of 

2016 and early 2017. They were only some of the 6.5 million people displaced within Syria 

between 2011 and 2017. More than half a million people fled Syria during the year, taking the 

total number of Syrian refugees to more than 5 million.

KURDISTAN REGION OF IRAQ

Government forces responded to the referendum on independence for the Kurdistan Region of 

Iraq by launching an operation that quickly retook the disputed city of Kirkuk, as well as most 

of the territory captured by Kurdish Peshmerga forces in the fight against IS. In October, tens 

of thousands of civilians were forced to flee their homes after fierce clashes erupted between 

Iraqi government forces, supported by affiliated militias, and Peshmerga forces in the multi-

ethnic city of Tuz Khurmatu; at least 11 civilians were killed in indiscriminate attacks.

LAWLESSNESS IN LIBYA

Three rival governments and hundreds of militias and armed groups continued to compete for 

power and control over territory, lucrative trade routes and strategic military locations in Libya. 

Militias and armed groups carried out indiscriminate attacks in heavily populated areas leading 

to deaths of civilians; executed captured fighters from rival groups; and abducted and 

unlawfully detained hundreds of people, including political and human rights activists, 

because of their origin, opinions, perceived political affiliations or perceived wealth. Up to 

20,000 refugees and migrants were held arbitrarily and indefinitely in overcrowded, unsanitary 

detention centres and exposed to torture, forced labour, extortion and unlawful killings at the 

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hands of the authorities and militias who ran the centres. The assistance provided by EU 

member states, particularly Italy, to the Libyan Coast Guard and migrant detention centres 

made them complicit in the abuses.

IMPUNITY

Impunity for grave violations of the past remained a live concern.

Victims of crimes committed in recent and ongoing conflicts generally faced entrenched 

impunity at a national level. In Iraq, the authorities announced investigations in response to 

some allegations of serious violations committed by Iraqi forces and pro-government militias – 

such as torture, extrajudicial execution and enforced disappearance. However, they 

consistently failed to make any findings public. In Libya, the judicial system was hamstrung by 

its own dysfunctionality, with magistrates often failing to pursue accountability for abuses 

because of fears of reprisal. In Syria, the judicial system lacked independence, and failed to 

investigate and prosecute crimes by state forces. In Yemen, the National Commission to 

Investigate Alleged Violations of Human Rights, established by the government, failed to 

conduct investigations consistent with international standards into alleged violations committed 

by all parties to the conflict in Yemen.

SLOW PROGRESS

The region’s only ongoing national transitional justice mechanism, Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity 

Commission – mandated to address human rights violations committed between July 1955 

and December 2013 – held 11 public sessions during which victims and perpetrators testified 

on a range of violations including election fraud, enforced disappearance and torture. 

However, there was no progress on an agreement to refer cases to specialized judicial 

chambers, and security agencies continued to fail to provide the Commission with the 

information it requested for its investigations.

At the international level, some significant initiatives continued but moved slowly. The Office 

of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court continued its preliminary examination of 

alleged crimes under international law committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since 

13 June 2014, including during the 2014 Gaza-Israel conflict. In Libya, it broadened its 

investigations from political and military leaders to consider the wider systematic mistreatment 

of migrants.

Other initiatives had positive aspects, but were tarnished or undermined. The UN Security 

Council passed a resolution in September that was aimed at ensuring accountability for war 

crimes and human rights abuses committed by IS in Iraq, but crucially failed to include any 

provisions to ensure accountability for crimes committed by Iraqi forces, militias and the US-

led coalition. The Joint Investigative Mechanism of the UN and the Organisation for the 

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons made progress on determining accountability for chemical 

weapons use in Syria, but an extension of its mandate was vetoed by Russia at the Security 

Council.

Two developments raised particular hope in the longer term for truth and justice for victims of 

violations in two seemingly intractable ongoing conflicts. The International Impartial and 

Independent Mechanism to assist in the investigation and prosecution of the most serious 

crimes under international law committed in Syria since March 2011 took shape during the 

year after its formal establishment in December 2016 by the UN General Assembly. And the 

UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution in September to establish a panel of experts to 

investigate abuses by all parties in Yemen. Both developments followed concerted advocacy by 

human rights organizations.

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