HUSAIN: Counting violent Muslim deaths by country in 2014 More than 37,000 Muslims have been killed in protracted violence in 2014 alone, despite the fact that five months remain in the calendar year. The count takes only a few countries into consideration, including Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, and Burma, but the results are chilling nonetheless. Of those killed, reports indicate that between 50-80 percent were non-combatant civilians, including young children. The Central African Republic (CAR) faces one of the most underreported crises, wherein 1,000 civilians are being killed each month. The carnage is so extreme that international observers are no long able to maintain an accurate count of fatalities. In April, the United Nations began compiling a report on the possibility of declaring the situation to be a genocide. Over one million Muslims from CAR have been displaced, as many flee the violence in droves. “At this rate, if the targeted violence continues, there will be no Muslims left in much of the Central African Republic,” said Peter Bouckaert, the Human Rights Watch Emergencies Director. This year, according to the Iraq Body Count (IBC) database, 7,658 civilians have been killed since the beginning of the year, at a rate approaching nearly 1,000 per month. According to its webpage, IBC records the violent civilian deaths that have resulted from the 2003 military intervention in Iraq… “IBC’s documentary evidence is drawn from crosschecked media reports of violent events leading to the death of civilians, or of bodies being found, and is supplemented by the careful review and integration of hospital, morgue, NGO and official figures.” “The United Nations says more than 1,000 people have been killed in Iraq this month, most of them civilians, as Sunni Islamist insurgents have taken over most of the country’s north” said NBC News, bolstering the data. IBC maintains a Twitter account with regular updates on fatalities in Iraq. Monday’s tweet read “@iraqbodycount 38 civilians killed in #Iraq 14 July. 669 so far in July.” The Palestinian Health Ministry has, as of Friday, reported 100 total deaths this year in its conflict with Israel, which has taken a tragic turn in the last few weeks. The Ministry reports that several of the deaths were children. A cease fire proposal by Egypt has gained international attention as the world watches the situation. The long standing crisis in Syria has also resulted in significant fatalities. There has been much controversy regarding the actual number of deaths, and the United Nations has stopped keeping an official count, citing unreliable sources. A group called the “Violations Documentation Center in Syria,” however, is one of the few groups to display a timeline of its data. The organization claims approximately 19,000 deaths have occurred since January 2014, and claims more than 70 percent of them are civilian. Afghanistan has seen a dramatic uptick in violence this year, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,000 children. Other civilian casualties bring the count up to more than 5,000 according to the United Nations. “The number killed or injured in the first six months of the year rose by a quarter from 2013 levels to nearly 5,000 people, the bloodiest total since the UN began keeping records in 2009. Women and children are particularly badly affected,” reports the UK Guardian. Moving out of the Middle East, the conflict in Burma has seen significant violence. Over the past several years, Buddhists have killed over 250 Rohingya Muslims, with calls for the ethnic and religious minority to be removed entirely from the country. Thousands have fled the violence into neighboring Thailand. The Washington Post reports that this year Buddhist mobs have attacked and killed 48 Muslims after government census takers began counting the members of each religion in the country. Responding to the violence, the Burmese government has begun sending its Muslim minority to camps for “Internally Displaced Peoples.” “A top U.N. humanitarian official said Tuesday she witnessed ‘appalling conditions’ and the worst human suffering she has ever seen in camps for stateless Rohingya Muslims in Burma’s violence-torn Rakhine State. “Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Kyung-wha Kang told reporters that because of severe restrictions on their freedom of movement both in camps and isolated villages, many Muslims can’t rebuild their lives and have ‘wholly inadequate access to basic services including health, education, water and sanitation,’” said the Epoch Times. Nearby, the South Asian Terrorism Portal counts the number dead in Pakistan at 1,845. The number is separate from the more than 900 injured persons. The high statistics come from violence sweeping the country, as the Pakistani Taliban become increasingly emboldened in their attacks against civilians. Read more: washingtontimes/news/2014/jul/15/husain-counting-violent-muslim-deaths-country-2014/#ixzz3ESk99fBX Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 22:17:11 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015