Beaten, homes destroyed, livestock looted: Hundreds of families with IS members 'forced into Iraq camps'

Most of the 235 families have been forced to move to the Daquq camp, near the city of Kirkuk in northeastern Iraq. Many had previously been residents in the camp after IS took over their homes.

Many of the forced evictions, demolitions and beatings were carried out by the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), Iraq's powerful Shia militia who played a key role in the ongoing battle to eradicate IS. However, some of their horrific war crimes are now coming to light. The forces also forcefully separated parents form their children and stole livestock from the families they were evicting, according to the rights group.

HRW said that during interviews with the families, all but one admitted to having family members affiliated with IS.

The families reported that the PMF and army forces rounded them up with no warning and brought them to the camp, all the while telling the families they were innocent but had family members in IS.

Several men and women at Daquq camp showed independent observers their bruising from the beatings carried out by Iraqi forces, but were afraid to disclose further details.

Daquq residents also told stories of being blindfolded, sent to military bases for screenings, and being subsequently sent to the camp without their children, whom they had left at home.

Witnesses also reported that soldiers in PMF uniforms set homes on fire and demolished them with bulldozers. HRW could confirm, through using satellite images, that several homes in the villages concerned had been destroyed.

Imposing collective punishment on families, villages, or entire communities is strictly forbidden and can itself be a crime, especially if it results in forced displacement

"Iraqi authorities should take immediate steps to investigate these alleged war crimes and other allegations of unlawful demolitions, looting, and destruction of civilian property," the rights organisation stated in the report.


Last month it was reported that Iraqi forces were forcibly returning civilians to areas that were still volatile, in an attempt to portray an image of stability to the outer world. Many people have been injured and some even killed by uncleared booby-traps left by IS fighters.

It was also revealed last month that many of the mass graves uncovered in Iraq thought to be the doing of IS were actually from mass executions carried out by the PMF.