IRAQ: Human rights organizations deprecate new ISIS families camp in Nineveh
Mosul – Human rights organizations have criticized the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration for wanting to establish a camp to re-settle families of ISIS operatives in the Nineveh province in northern Iraq. In the statement Yazidi International Foundation against Genocide, Yazidi Organization for the Documentation of Genocide and General Secretariat for the Defense of the Followers of Religions and Doctrines in Iraq said that the Ministry was seeking to transfer ISIS families living in al-Hol camp in Syria to camp “Amla” in the Zamar district of Nineveh. The statement says:
Despite the criticism and disapproval of the build of the Amla camp in the Zamar district of Nineveh and to receive 31,400 persons from ISIS families coming from al- Hol camp in Syria, the Iraqi Minister of Displacement and Migration continues the completion of the camp without consulting the Nineveh governorate residents. A majority of the Nineveh residents rejects the coming of the ISIS families.
This project costs the Iraqi government more than five billion Iraqi dinars while there are many empty camps for displaced persons available in other parts of Iraq in the Salah al-Din and Anbar provinces.
Therefore, it is not reasonable for the Ministry of Displacement and Migration to handle such a serious dossier in this manner. A dossier that has worried the whole world. The brutality of ISIS and its human rights crimes continues against the people of the region, especially against Yazidis and Christians whose wounds have still not healed. For a large part of the kidnapped Yazidis and Christians by ISIS their fate is still unknown.
In its way of acting, the organizations claim, the minister equates the killer with the victim and quickly forgets the barbaric crimes committed. The General Secretariat for the Defense of Religions and Yazidis International Foundation against Genocide deprecate the actions of the Ministry of Displacement and Migration and demand a reversal of the decision.
ISIS militants’ families lodging must be stopped in areas that are still unsecure and unstable. On top of ISIS sleeper terrorist cells being active in the area, the residents of the area still live in camps and have not been able to return to their houses due the lack of security. The organizations said they will take all measures to stop the implementation of the transfer of ISIS families to this camp, in order to ensure the safety and security of the area and out of respect for the victims and missing persons.
Most of the ISIS militants’ families are of Iraqi nationality.