Up to 1 million people “they disappeared” in the Iraq over the past 50 years, a period that includes the dictatorial rule of the country by Saddam Hussein, the US military occupation and the rise of the Islamic State jihadists.

The UN Commission on Enforced Disappearances urged Iraq to find the victims and punish the perpetrators. However, this effort is hampered by the fact that in Iraqi legislation there is no specific definition of enforced disappearances. Iraq has one of the highest numbers of missing people in the world.

So far there is no reaction from the Iraqi government or the Ministry of Interior.

According to the UN report, an estimated 290,000 people, of which 100,000 were Kurds, disappeared during the “campaign of genocide” in Kurdistan between 1968-2003. Disappearances continued after the US military operation in 2003, when at least 200,000 Iraqis were arrested. Almost half of them were held in prisons controlled by the US or Britain.

“Detainees were said to have been arrested without a warrant for their involvement in guerrilla operations, while others were civilians who were ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time,'” the Commission notes.

A new wave of kidnappings followed when the Islamic State established its “caliphate” in the territories of Iraq and Syria. The Commission in its report also refers to the alleged disappearances of children, especially Yezidi children who were born after their mothers were sexually exploited in IS camps.

In total, from 1968 to the present it is believed that between 250,000 and 1 million people have disappeared. The Commission asked Iran to set up an independent agency to ensure that detainees are registered and that families are informed of the whereabouts of their loved ones.