Iraqi Sunnis seek answers for those displaced in time of fighting Islamic State

In an attempt to pressure the Mustafa al-Kadhimi government to reveal the fate of Sunnis who disappeared during the operations to liberate the country from the Islamic State (IS), Iraqis rolled out the hashtag Waiyoun ("Where Are They") on social media. The demands also include revealing the fate of those who went missing during the October 2019 protests. As it went viral among Iraqis, international organizations such as Human Rights Watch also interacted with the hashtag and joined the popular demand. 

The issue of Sunnis who disappeared during the fight against IS has always been sensitive, as one rarely dared to talk about it because of militia involvement. It was also a demand made by just the Sunni political forces and was included in their political talks with the Shiite forces who consider the post of prime minister — the top executive post in the Iraqi administration — to be strictly theirs.

Those who were forcibly disappeared in Iraq are the ones who went missing when IS occupied nearly a third of Iraqi territory in 2014. Others disappeared during the operations conducted by official security forces affiliated with the ministries of the interior and defense and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) to liberate the country from IS. The issue now also includes those who went missing in the protests that were held in 11 Iraqi provinces in October 2019. 

The International Commission on Missing Persons estimates that the number of missing persons ranges between 250,000 to 1 million since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.