Human rights in Iraq “extremely poor” –HRW

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Human rights in Iraq remain “extremely poor” despite security gains in 2008, Human Rights Watch said in its annual report. “Security gains in 2008 did little to ease Iraq’s crisis of displacement, with about 2.8 million Iraqis displaced within the country and another 2 million abroad, mainly in Syria and Jordan,” read the report that was received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “The government continues to rest on a narrow political and ethnic/sectarian base, though Tawafuq, a Sunni bloc, returned to its ranks in July after a year-long boycott. The government was to incorporate into state forces up to 100,000 mainly Sunni paramilitaries paid by US forces to provide local security, but government officials disputed their numbers and threatened to arrest some leaders, casting doubt over the plans,” it added. “Government-run detention facilities struggled to accommodate over 24,000 detainees, and tardy judicial review of cases exacerbated overcrowding. The US military said in October its detainee population had fallen to about 17,000 from a peak of approximately 26,000 in late 2007. Some detainees have spent years in custody without charge or trial,” according to the report. “As of mid-November 2008, Iraq’s parliament was preparing to vote on a security agreement with the U.S. to govern the presence of foreign troops when the UN Security Council mandate for the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF) expired at the end of 2008,” the report said. SS (S)/SR 1