The accounts of violence, including rape, come amid claims that authorities are also denying aid to the women, as well as refusing them the opportunity to return to their homes. Researchers who visited eight camps for internally displaced Iraqis found that sexual exploitation was occurring in all eight. “Because they consider me the same as an Isis fighter, they will rape me and return me,” she said. Each night, I say to myself, ‘Tonight is the night I’m going to die.’”Many of the women interviewed by Amnesty in IDP camps expressed fears for their safety. “Sometimes I ask myself: why didn’t I just die in an airstrike?” said Maha, another woman interviewed for the report.

Source: The Guardian April 17, 2018 04:52 UTC