MESOP REPORTS : HRW Asks International Community to Cease Military Support to Iraqi Militias:

10 Nov 2014 – Human Rights Watch (HRW) called on foreign governments to “stop providing Iraq with military support and assistance” in a report it released accusing Shia militias of massacring 34 people in a mosque in August. Despite U.S. pressure on President Haider al-Abadi to reduce tensions between Shia and Sunni populations by increasing security cooperation and integration of the two groups, reports indicated that police and army checkpoints only 200 yards from the attack did not respond to the incident. Chelsea Carter and Raja Razek commented that it is unlikely the U.S. will adopt HRW’s recommendations as long as Iraqi Shia militias continue to play a critical role in the fight against the Islamic State. In other news, the U.S. State Department released a statement in which it condemned “in the strongest terms the commodification of women and girls as spoils of war, and their subjection to horrific physical and sexual abuse, intimidation, and deprivation of liberty.”