KRG to investigate claims in human rights report

[Anthea]

KRG to investigate claims in State Department human rights report

SULAIMANI – Kurdish authorities plan to investigate the U.S. State Department’s 2015 report on human rights practices that detailed violations by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), an official said on Saturday (April 16).

Dindar Zebari, head of the KRG’s committee that responds to international reports, told NRT that the State Department’s report failed to consider the Kurdistan Region as separate from other areas in Iraq.

“It is important they [U.S. Department of State] differentiate [between the KRG and central government] because violations in Iraq cannot be compared to the Kurdistan Region,” Zebari said.

“We will respond to the report in full in the near future,” he added.

Zebari added that the report included incidents detailed in previous reports and did not only cover 2015.

The U.S. State Department issued its 2015 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on April 13.

The report described an alarmingly high number of cases of harassment, detention and even violence against journalists in the Kurdistan Region.

“Throughout the IKR [Iraqi Kurdistan Region] there were numerous shootings, beatings, detentions, and death threats against media workers. In some cases the aggressors wore military or police uniforms. Many attacks targeted independent and former opposition media, mainly the independent Nalia Radio and Television,” the report stated.

http://www.nrttv.com/EN/Details.aspx?Jimare=6369