Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq highlights the country’s recent history of atrocities against Christians
Since 2003, Iraq has been in a state of insecurity that allows terrorist groups to express their hatred towards religious and ethnic ‘others’. Pope Francis attends a prayer for war victims in Mosul s Old City, Iraq. | Abdullah Rashid/ Reuters
Recording casualties during a conflict can provide a body of evidence of how violence has affected particular communities or groups, such as the Yazidis in Iraq and the Kurds in Syria. When the Islamic State entered Iraq in 2014, they immediately started committing gross human rights violations and displayed violence of an increasingly sectarian nature against religious and ethnic groups, including Christians and Yazidis.