BAGHDAD — The Iraqi government has refused to provide the United Nations with civilian casualty figures for its latest report on the hardships facing Iraqis, the U.N. said Wednesday, but numbers from various ministries indicate that more than 5,500 people died in the Baghdad area alone in the first three months of this year.
The numbers, provided to The Times by employees in government ministries, could not be independently verified but were higher than those in an independent nationwide civilian death count based on news accounts. Numbers provided by employees of ministries also appear to indicate an increase in Baghdad civilian deaths in recent weeks after an ebb when a new security plan was launched in February.
At a news conference to unveil the United Nations' report, spokesman Said Arikat said no "official" reason had been given by the government for not issuing casualty figures. But Ivana Vuco, a U.N. human rights officer, said government officials had made it clear during discussions that they believed releasing high casualty numbers would make it harder for the government to quell unrest.
"We were told they were concerned that people would misconstrue the figures to portray the situation very negatively, and that would further undermine their efforts to establish some kind of stability and security in the country," Vuco said, adding, "These are, in a way
"However, we are trying to stress our point of view, which is that transparency is the key to establishing security."
Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government rejected the U.N. report for its criticisms of the country's judicial system, saying it "lacks accuracy" and balance. Among other things, the U.N. said some prisoners in Iraqi detention facilities faced torture, were forced into confessing to alleged crimes and were denied adequate access to lawyers.
U.S. Embassy officials also faulted the findings, saying the criticism of the legal system in particular contained inaccuracies.
American officials also defended Maliki's decision to withhold casualty figures and said that in the past, several ministries had issued conflicting numbers.
"There were sometimes concerns with political motivations" in the release of statistics, one U.S. Embassy official said, referring to the sectarian and ethnic polarization in Maliki's government. The prime minister's aim is to have "one voice" from the government delivering numbers that have been consolidated and verified, to prevent such things as double-counting, the official said.
