ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Children suspected of ties with the Islamic State (ISIS) group are not being held by Kurdish Asayish (security) forces and have not been tortured to elicit confessions, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) said Wednesday in response to new allegations.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) published a 52-page report on Wednesday estimating Iraqi and Kurdish authorities are holding 1,500 children suspected of ties with ISIS.
Based on interviews with 29 current and former child detainees, relatives, prison guards, and judicial sources, the report said several of the children had been tortured by security forces, including beatings and electric shocks.
In a statement to Rudaw, Dindar Zebari, the KRG’s Coordinator for International Advocacy, said between 50 and 70 children are being held in reformative facilities managed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs – not by the Asayish or counter-terrorism forces.
Rehabilitation is their goal with the youth, he explained. “We want to bring them back to society and give them special attention,” Zebari said in a phone call.
Jo Becker, children’s rights advocacy director for HRW, said that the youth detained in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region are being prosecuted on charges of affiliation with ISIS “regardless of their actual level of involvement with the group” and often tortured to obtain confessions.
The report, ‘Everyone Must Confess’: Abuses against Children Suspected of ISIS Affiliation in Iraq,’ alleged the children were denied access to relatives and legal representation, and coerced into admitting ISIS membership even if they had never joined the jihadists.
“This sweeping, punitive approach is not justice, and will create lifelong negative consequences for many of these children,” Becker warned.
Zebari denied the allegations, saying, “They are being given access to lawyers, family visits, and NGOs including UN agencies and the ICRC.”
“There are no medical records of torture against them and no NGOs have highlighted cases of torture,” he added.
He accused HRW of “politicizing” the issue.
“This report is a contradiction, because Human Rights Watch has been given full access to our facilities. So I’m not sure where these claims came from. I feel they are politicizing the issue,” he said.
Becker called on KRG and Iraqi authorities to end the practice of detaining and prosecuting children on the sole accusation of ISIS affiliation, saying the “harsh treatment of children looks more like blind vengeance than justice for ISIS crimes.”
“Children involved in armed conflicts are entitled to rehabilitation and reintegration, not torture and prison,” she concluded.
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