UNHCR's ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING THE ...

cooperate with, finance, or purport to be part of the Sunni insurgency or a Shi’ite militia in
order to gain legitimacy.” 136
Criminal activities often reveal a sectarian dimension. 137 At times, criminal gangs abduct
victims in order to sell them to sectarian groups. 138 Accordingly, criminal groups are
fuelling sectarian violence and causing displacement. Increasingly, criminal gangs are
working in collusion with or have infiltrated the ISF, leaving victims without access to
protection. 139
4. Kurdish Armed Forces
The Kurdish parties and their armed forces are considered responsible for arbitrary arrests,
incommunicado detention and torture of political opponents (e.g. (perceived) Islamists 140
and members of ethnic/religious minorities 141 ) in their areas of jurisdiction in the three
Northern Governorates and in areas under their de facto control further south, in particular
the Governorates of Kirkuk and Ninewa. There are also concerns over the treatment of
journalists perceived as critical of the authorities. 142
5. Family, Community, Tribe
Iraqis might be at risk of harm at the hand of their own family, community or tribe; this is
particularly the case with regard to so-called “honour killings”. 143 Such “honour killings”
occur mainly in conservative Muslim families (both Shi’ite and Sunni, of both Arab and
Kurdish backgrounds), in all areas of Iraq. “Honour killings” are a “tribal custom stemming
from the patriarchal and patrilineal society’s interest in keeping strict control over familial
power structures”. 144 Cases of domestic violence (including “honour killings”) are
reportedly on the rise since the fall of the former regime. 145
136
Iraq Study Group Report, p. 11, see above footnote 35.
137
UNAMI HRO, October 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 1 and 15, see above footnote 66; ibidem, August
2006 Human Rights Report, p. 2, see above footnote 26. See also: Scott Peterson, Kidnappings tear at Iraq’s
frayed social fabric, The Christian Science Monitor, 8 June 2006, http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0608/
p01s03-woiq.html.
138
US Department of Defense, p. 21, see above footnote 73.
139
UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 2 and 9, see above footnote 10.
140
See “Actual or Perceived Opponents of the Ruling Parties in the Region of Kurdistan as well as in Areas
Under the de facto Control of the KRG”.
141
See “Kurds, Arabs, Turkmen428F, Ethnic-Based Christian Groups (Assyrians, Chaldeans,
Armenians)429F, Yazidis430F and Shabak431F in Ethnically Mixed Areas”.
142
See “Journalists and Media Workers”.
143
See “Women” and “Sexual Orientation”.
144
See UNHCR, 2005 Country of Origin Information Iraq, p. 37, see above footnote 53.
145
UNAMI HRO, December 2006 Human Rights Report, p. 11, see above footnote 10.
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