Human shields 'killed in airstrikes on Daesh' in Iraq

By Fatih Erel

GENEVA

The UN on Tuesday called for an urgent review of tactics used against Daesh in the Iraqi city of Mosul to avoid the deaths of civilians used as human shields by the terror group.

Airstrikes against Daesh targets in western Mosul and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) planted by Daesh killed at least 307 people and wounded 273 between Feb. 17 and March 22, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said.

The international coalition against Daesh and Iraqi security forces should “undertake an urgent review of tactics to ensure that the impact on civilians is reduced to an absolute minimum”, Zeid said in a statement.

Other civilians have been killed by shelling and Daesh snipers as they tried to flee the northern Iraqi city, Zeid’s office added.

Last October, in the run-up to the campaign to retake the city, Daesh took “tens of thousands” of hostages from villages surrounding Mosul for use as human shields, the UN said at the time.

On March 17, an airstrike said to have been targeting Daesh snipers hit a house in Al-Jadida neighbourhood, killing at least 61 people although the toll is thought to be higher, the statement said.

According to witnesses, Daesh had forced at least 140 civilians into the house and booby-trapped it with IEDs before the attack.

Zeid called for thorough and transparent investigations into such incidents.

“ISIL’s strategy of using children, men and women to shield themselves from attack is cowardly and disgraceful,” Zeid said, using an alternative acronym for Daesh.

“It breaches the most basic standards of human dignity and morality. Under international humanitarian law, the use of human shields amounts to a war crime. And shooting civilians in the back as they flee for their lives is an act of monstrous depravity.”

Under the Geneva Conventions, warring parties must take adequate precautions to avoid civilian casualties and react to any threat proportionally to mitigate against non-combatant deaths and injuries.

Zeid said the use of airstrikes in densely populated areas “may potentially have a lethal and disproportionate impact on civilians.”

It was important for the Iraqi and coalition forces avoid the “trap” set by an enemy that “ruthlessly exploits civilians to serve its own ends and clearly has not even the faintest qualm about deliberately placing them in danger,” he added.