Recent estimates quoted in the report put the number of civilians killed in the three years following the invasion at 150,000, with the killings having been carried out by the US-led Multinational Forces, the Iraqi security forces and armed insurgent groups such as Al Qaeda.

 

Years of hardship and civil unrest have created more than four million refugees, more than 15% of the Iraqi population and the numbers of Iraqis being held without charge has risen to 60,000.

 

The report Five Years on: Carnage and Despair notes a dramatic rise in violent crimes committed against women and girls over the past five years, claiming women in Iraq are routinely attacked by armed religious groups for failing to wear traditional Islamic dress, working or simply belonging to a different religious group to their attackers, ‘honour’ killings have also been on the increase with the UN reporting that 255 women fell victim to ‘honour killings’ in the last year.

 

One such victim was 17 year old Du’a Khalil Aswad, who was stoned to death in Mosul in front of members of the security forces and a large crowd of onlookers, footage of her agonising death was later posted on the internet.

 

Following an international outcry the Iraqi government announced that an inquiry into her dearth had led to a number of arrests being made, since that time no further information has been made public.

 

Speaking to the press about the situation in Iraq on Monday Amnesty International’s UK Director Kate Allen said:

 

‘For the best part of thirty years we have denounced torture, imprisonment and killings under Saddam Hussein. Five years on it’s heartbreaking to see this latest human rights disaster devastating Iraq’s long suffering people.’

 

Speaking specifically about the case of Du’a Kahlil Aswad Ms Allen said that her ‘utterly grotesque murder seems to have followed an all too familiar pattern in present day Iraq: an investigation is announced which then goes nowhere.’

 

Amnesty has repeatedly drawn the world’s attention to the failure of the Iraqi government to obey UN resolution 1325, which calls for women’s voices to be heard during conflict resolution.

 

Summing the situation up on Monday she said:

 

‘Whatever direction Iraq takes in the next five years, the authorities must make a determined effort to stamp out torture and to genuinely safeguard the safety of everyone in Iraq, not least women and ethnic and religious minorities.’