More than 200 mass graves found in former IS territory in Iraq: UN

– ‘A full reckoning’ –

But many Iraqi families have missing relatives who they suspect may have been killed by IS, or are desperately looking for the remains of loved ones they know were executed by the jihadist group.

Their quest to uncover the truth often leads them into Iraq’s exhausting state bureaucracy.

“Families of victims must report to more than five State entities to complete the legal requirements to establish the fate of a missing person,” said the report, calling for the creation of a single body to handle the process.

Iraqis are still searching for answers on the more than one million people who went missing during the reign of strongman Saddam Hussein, which ended in the US’s invasion in 2003.

Since then, thousands more have disappeared in bloody waves of sectarian violence, then as militias became prominent across the country, and most recently as IS took over parts of Iraq.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said revealing the truth behind the mass graves would be “critical to ensuring a full reckoning for the atrocities committed by IS.”

“IS’s horrific crimes in Iraq have left the headlines but the trauma of the victims’ families endures, with thousands of women, men and children still unaccounted for,” she said.