HRW urges protection for Iraq minorities

IRBIL, Iraq, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Yazidi and Shabak minorities under attack in Iraq's Nineveh province are not receiving government protection, human rights advocates say.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday in Irbil, Iraq, the Baghdad government, as well as the Kurdistan Regional Government, were not doing enough to protect the besieged minorities, whom its says are under attack from Sunni Arab extremists and suffering from intimidation by Kurdish forces trying to incorporate their lands into the autonomous territory.

HRW has released a report titled "On Vulnerable Ground: Violence against Minority Communities in Nineveh Province's Disputed Territories," in which it calls on the regional government to grant legal recognition to Shabaks and Yazidis as distinct ethnic groups, rather than imposing a Kurdish identity on them.

It also urges the Iraqi government to investigate killings and displacement of Assyrian Christians and deadly attacks against other minorities in Nineveh.

"Iraqi Christians, Yazidis, and Shabaks have suffered extensively since 2003," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. "Iraqi authorities, both Arab and Kurdish, need to rein in security forces, extremists and vigilante groups to send a message that minorities cannot be attacked with impunity."