Thousands of children are at risk in Western Mosul

Call

• children’s exposure to killing, injury and loss while their families that accompany them attempting to flee the combat zones on the Western side of the city of Mosul, (418) kilometers north of Baghdad, Iraq.
• Reports indicate that children in the Western side of Mosul are being killed and injured and witnessing scenes of death and destruction, and being used as human shields by the armed groups as well as some are involved with fighting compulsorily. In contrary to all humanitarian international conventions and treaties.
• There are an estimated of (100) thousand children of both genders are still around in combat zones located in the old city and other areas of the city of Mosul cannot be reached and be provided with emergency humanitarian assistance, and they are at risk from exposure to hunger and thirst as well as continued fighting, crossfire and complete absence of first aid after the destruction of hospitals and health institutions, within the exposure of civilian infrastructure such as health, education and service institutions to the destruction.

NIHR initiatives:

• NIHR’s preparation to provide immediate responses and psychological treatments for children, women and the elderly, survivors of the conflict in addition to referral of some.
• Providing responses to children, women and the elderly survivors of the conflict regarding legal representation to the detained by security forces, for multiple reasons including suspicion or loss of identity documents.
• Provision of emergency humanitarian aid of food, health and hygiene kits to survivor families, and along the line of these families during their escape from the combat zones, after the possibility of provision by organizations that want to provide through NIHR.
• Providing legal representation who their own properties have been confiscated, destructed, and loss of their personal documents and of their own properties on the Western side of Mosul.
• Legal representation for the purpose of establishing the facts of marriage, birth, and death that occurred in the period of ISIS’s control on their areas.

Recommendations for the liberating forces:

• To open safe passages to methodically secure passage for children, women and the elderly.
• Change of plans and strategies of fighting which secure the preserving of civilian lives and their properties.
• Change of the composition of the forces involved in fighting with security forces have track record in terms of preserving the lives of civilians who are not involved in the fighting, especially children.
• Form teams of security forces using mechanisms and ways to prevent attacking civilians in the safe passages.
• Urging the liberating forces not to use disproportionate force in densely populated areas, and finding combat methods that can reduce and minimize civilian casualties.

National Institute for human rights-NIHR:

(An independent NGO, nonprofit, developmental, work on the dissemination and strengthening of the culture of human rights and democracy, citizenship and peace-building among (children, young people and women) and target the most affected of them over the long term in several areas of Iraq. Works since 2005 in Iraq, holds work certificate from NGOs Department under the serial 1Z38615 in Nov/8/2012).

Contact:

The National Institute for Human Rights NIHR

Address: Kirkuk – Baghdad Road – Al-Amal Housing Complex – House 236

Email: nihri_kirkuk@yahoo.com – nihri_kirkuk@nihriq.org

Mobile:   009647701302820

Website: www.nihriq.org