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STORY: GENEVA / MOSUL ATROCITIES
TRT: 03:05
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 11 NOVEMBER 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Exterior, Palais des Nations
11 NOVEMBER 2016, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“As mass graves and further evidence of sexual exploitation of women and girls, torture and killings, child recruitment and other grave human rights abuses committed by ISIL in Iraq come to light, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has called for immediate action to ensure that the rights and the needs of victims and survivors are met – including, crucially, the need for justice, truth and reconciliation.”
4. Wide shot, panel
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Just over the past few days, reports have emerged that ISIL appears to be continuing to carry out killings based on decisions of its self-appointed ‘courts’. On Tuesday, ISIL reportedly shot and killed 40 civilians in Mosul city after accusing them of ‘treason and collaboration’ with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF). The victims were dressed in orange clothes marked in red with the words: ‘traitors and agents of the ISF’. Their bodies were then hung on electrical poles in several areas in Mosul city.”
6. Med shot, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“More details are also emerging about the reports of a mass grave containing at least 100 people in an Agricultural College building in Hamam al-Alil that was discovered on Monday. Reports suggest that victims included former ISF officers and ISIL detainees, as well as people killed for initiating uprisings against ISIL since the beginning of the Mosul operation. The corpses are in various states of decomposition indicating that ISIL had been using the site as a killing ground for some time.”
8. Med shot, journalists
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Details are also emerging of the use of chemical weapons by ISIL. On 23 October, four people died after inhaling fumes from burning Sulphur from al-Mishrag Sulphur Gas Factory and Field in the Shura sub-district of Mosul. The factory was set on fire and shelled by ISIL. ISIL also reportedly placed Sulphur in locations in Shura and set it alight.”
10. Wide shot, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) William Spindler, Spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR):
“Some 47,730 Iraqis have been displaced since the beginning of the offensive in Mosul in October 2016 according to inter-agency data as of 11 November. Numbers have approximately doubled in the last week and I expect them to continue to rise as the fighting continues.”
12. Wide shot, UN logo
13. SOUNDBITE (English) William Spindler, Spokesperson, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR):
“UNHCR is building 11 camps to host displaced Iraqis with 5 currently receiving new arrivals. The newly built Hasansham camp became full to capacity in the space of only 4 days. The camp now houses 1, 855 families approximately 10,000 people. A final section of the camp with 240 tents is due to be finished this week.”
14. Med shot, journalists
As the extent of civilian suffering in Mosul and other ISIL-occupied areas in Iraq becomes “numbing and intolerable”, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) called on the Iraqi government to “act quickly to restore effective law enforcement in areas retaken from ISIL to ensure that captured fighters and their perceived supporters are dealt with according to the law.”
OHCHR’s spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani today (11 Nov) told media in Geneva that “as mass graves and further evidence of sexual exploitation of women and girls, torture and killings, child recruitment and other grave human rights abuses committed by ISIL in Iraq come to light, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has called for immediate action to ensure that the rights and the needs of victims and survivors are met – including, crucially, the need for justice, truth and reconciliation.”
Concrete steps could be, according to OHCHR, to refer the situation in Iraq to the International Criminal Court, to give Iraqi court’s jurisdiction over international crimes, to reform the criminal justice system and to reinforce the capacity of judicial officers to investigate and prosecute violations.
OHCHR also informed that “reports have emerged that ISIL appears to be continuing to carry out killings based on decisions of its self-appointed ‘courts’. On Tuesday, ISIL reportedly shot and killed 40 civilians in Mosul city after accusing them of ‘treason and collaboration’ with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF).”
More details are also emerged about the reports of a mass grave containing at least 100 people in an Agricultural College building in Hamam al-Alil. OHCHR’s spokesperson Shamdasani said that “reports suggest that victims included former ISF officers and ISIL detainees, as well as people killed for initiating uprisings against ISIL since the beginning of the Mosul operation. The corpses are in various states of decomposition indicating that ISIL had been using the site as a killing ground for some time.”
OHCHR has received more information regarding the use of chemical weapons by ISIL. Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva that “on 23 October, four people died after inhaling fumes from burning Sulphur from al-Mishrag Sulphur Gas Factory and Field in the Shura sub-district of Mosul. The factory was set on fire and shelled by ISIL. ISIL also reportedly placed Sulphur in locations in Shura and set it alight.”
As the displacement in and around Mosul continues, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) scaled up its assistance. According to William Spindler, UNHCR’s spokesperson, “some 47,730 Iraqis have been displaced since the beginning of the offensive in Mosul in October 2016 according to inter-agency data as of 11 November. Numbers have approximately doubled in the last week and I expect them to continue to rise as the fighting continues.”
UNHCR is providing further shelter and protection assistance to displaced Iraqis, inside and outside camps. Spindler said that “UNHCR is building 11 camps to host displaced Iraqis with 5 currently receiving new arrivals. The newly built Hasansham camp became full to capacity in the space of only 4 days. The camp now houses 1, 855 families approximately 10,000 people. A final section of the camp with 240 tents is due to be finished this week.”
In Iraq, as temperatures have begun to sharply drop at night, UNHCR and its partners have begun distributing essential winter items to 1.2 million recently displaced Iraqis who have fled the Mosul offensive.
