U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Monday he was concerned about abuses by Iraqi forces and paramilitary forces in their war against Islamic State and called for investigations into any wrongdoing.
Ban’s remarks, made during a one-day visit to Iraq, amounted to the strongest warning to date by a world leader regarding the conduct of the Shi’ite paramilitaries.
Speaking alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi, Ban called for the different “volunteer armed groups” — a broad term referring to Shi’ite paramilitary factions — to be brought under government control.
“I am … concerned by allegations of summary killings, abductions and destruction of property perpetrated by forces and militias fighting alongside Iraqi armed forces,” Ban said after meeting Iraqi officials.
“Alleged violations or abuses of human rights must be investigated and perpetrators need to be held to account.”
“Civilians freed from the brutality of Daesh should not have to then fear their liberators,” Ban said, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State.
“One form of violence cannot replace another,” he added, alluding to reports of abuse against ordinary Sunnis when their areas were freed from Islamic State.
A number of international organization had expressed concerns about Iranian-linked paramilitary groups committing war crimes in Iraq.
Amnesty International said in a report in last October that Shiite militias backed by the Iraqi army are committing war crimes against civilians and use the battle against ISIS as a pretext for carrying out “revenge” attacks on members of the Sunni community.
Amnesty International said: “The growing power of Shiite militias has contributed to an overall deterioration in security and an atmosphere of lawlessness,” and called on the government of Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi to rein in the scores of militias targeting civilians across Iraq.
Amnesty said it had seen evidence of “scores” of “deliberate execution style killings” against Sunnis across Iraq as well as Sunni families having to pay tens of thousands of dollars to free abducted relatives.
Many of those kidnapped are still missing and some were killed even after their families paid hefty ransoms to secure their release, the group said in a report.