Overview

State-affiliated armed actors targeted, threatened, abducted and extrajudicially executed dissidents and activists as well as their families, leading survivors to flee into hiding. Iraqi authorities arrested and prosecuted individuals for some of these attacks, but tens of people remained disappeared. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) cracked down on dissent and sentenced activists and journalists under national security and cybercrime laws for acts related to freedom of expression. KRG security and intelligence forces violently dispersed and arrested protesters. Measures to contain Covid-19, coupled with droughts, adversely affected the economic welfare of Iraqis. Armed actors continued to obstruct internally displaced people from accessing their human rights, and Iraqi authorities closed all but two camps and subjected thousands to secondary displacement and collective punishment. Gender-based violence increased dramatically during the pandemic, and central and regional authorities failed to address protection of women and girls in the home. The armed group Islamic State continued to target and kill civilians and members of Iraqi security forces in northern and central Iraq. Courts in Iraq continued to hand down death sentences for a range of criminal acts and carried out executions.