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STORY: GENEVA / MOSUL HUMAN RIGHTS
TRT: 02:32
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 28 MARCH 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / RECENT
RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior Palais des Nations
28 MARCH 2017, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, press briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Bodies continue to be found in buildings where civilians were reportedly held by ISIL as human shields, and were subsequently killed by airstrikes conducted by Iraqi Security Forces and the International Coalition forces, as well as by improvised explosive devices allegedly planted in the same buildings by ISIL. Numerous other civilians have been killed by shelling and have been gunned down by ISIL snipers as they tried to flee.”
4. Close up, hand
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“The most deadly incident occurred on 17 March, when an airstrike -- reportedly targeting ISIL snipers and equipment -- hit a house in al-Jadida neighbourhood in western Mosul city. Witnesses reported that ISIL had previously forced at least 140 civilians into the house to be used as human shields. They also said that ISIL had booby-trapped the house with improvised explosive devices.”
6. Close up, journalist
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“There have also been numerous reports that ISIL snipers have shot at, and in some cases killed or wounded, civilians attempting to flee towards the Iraqi Security Forces, and that ISIS has also shelled civilians in areas of the city retaken by the government.”
8. Close up, writing
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“ISIL’s strategy of using children, men and women to shield themselves from attack is cowardly and disgraceful. 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.”
10. Medium shot, journalist typing
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Witness after witness has told us that ISIL have forced them to remain in houses and even locked them in their rooms while positioning fighters on the roof from where they launched attacks on Iraqi army forces. Witnesses have also repeatedly told us how they were forced to go with ISIL fighters as they move around the streets. Witnesses similarly have told us that ISIL has informed on the best thing they can do is to die for the Kalifate, quote, and that also explains perhaps why they deliberately target and kill civilians who are attempting to flee.”
12. Med shot, journalists
At least 307 civilians have been killed and 273 wounded in Iraq’s western city of Mosul since 17 February, as ISIL fighters held people into booby-trapped buildings as human shields and fired on those who fled, a spokesperson for the UN human rights chief said today (28 Mar) in Geneva.
Rupert Colville, Spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said bodies continue to be found in buildings where civilians were reportedly held by ISIL as human shields, and were subsequently killed by airstrikes conducted by Iraqi Security Forces and the International Coalition forces, as well as by Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) allegedly planted in the same buildings by ISIL.” He added that “numerous other civilians have been killed by shelling and have been gunned down by ISIL snipers as they tried to flee.”
Colville said that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has welcomed the announcement by the Iraqi Security Forces and by the International Coalition that they are investigating some of the serious incidents resulting in civilian deaths that have occurred during the campaign to regain Mosul from ISIL fighters.
Colville said “we have to understand just how bitter and vehement this battle is for Mosul, it looks like a battle to the death by ISIL.”
Clearly, he said, “all the actions I have described they are involved in every single level, including the levels where it appears the air strikes causes all the casualties. If they also putting explosive devices in the same buildings and then sing these buildings as a military position, that complicates the judgement, if you like, of who is responsible for what precisely.”
According to information verified by the UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), the most deadly incident occurred on 17 March, when an airstrike – reportedly targeting ISIL snipers and equipment – hit a house in the al-Jadida neighbourhood in western Mosul city. Witnesses reported that ISIL had previously forced at least 140 civilians into the house to be used as human shields.
Colville said “witness after witness has told us that ISIL have forced them to remain in houses and even locked them in their rooms while positioning fighters on the roof from where they launched attacks on Iraqi army forces."
He said “witnesses have also repeatedly told us how they were forced to go with ISIL fighters as they move around the streets. Witnesses similarly have told us that ISIL has informed on the best thing they can do is to die for the Kalifate, quote, and that also explains perhaps why they deliberately target and kill civilians who are attempting to flee.”
OHCHR stressed that the conduct of military operations in densely populated areas continues to pose a serious threat to civilians who remain in these areas.
Colville said that “ISIL’s strategy of using children, men and women to shield themselves from attack is cowardly and disgraceful. 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.”
