Baghdad (ICRC) – Despite the common perception that the armed conflict in Iraq is
largely over, widespread violence and a lack of respect for human life continue to affect the Iraqi people. Civilians are the primary victims.
Mass explosions and indiscriminate attacks
are claiming the lives of hundreds and leaving thousands more wounded every month, mainly in Baghdad, Ninewa and Diyala governorates.
"In these three governorates, many Iraqis fear for
their lives whenever they leave their homes, as anyone could be hit simply by being in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Juan-Pedro Schaerer, head of the delegation of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for Iraq.
"The level of insecurity remains high and should not be accepted as somehow 'normal' or unavoidable." The ICRC seizes the occasion of the 60th
anniversary of the Geneva Conventions to stress that the basic rules of the law of armed conflict remain as important as ever, and that a distinction should always be drawn between combatants and
those taking no part in hostilities.
Iraqi civilians must be respected and spared acts of hostility.
For further information, please contact:
Dibeh Fakhr, ICRC Iraq,
tel: +962 777 399 614 or +962 6 552 39 94
Spc. Josh Lizardo, an infrantryman, provides security at a farmer's field while a civil affairs team checks on a well, near Mahmudiyah, 30 km (20 miles) south of Baghdad August 9, ...
