On September 11, the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS (UNITAD) released a report on ISIS crimes against Yezidis and concluded that there are “reasonable grounds to believe that war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide were committed.”
Read More: UNITAD Delivers Evidence of ISIS Crimes to KRG
The body will release a number of reports on international crimes carried out by ISIS against Yezidis, Shi’a Muslims, Arab tribal groups, and the region’s cultural heritage, and has delivered evidence to the Iraqi federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), as its mandate ends on September 17, 2024.
Earlier this year, Iraq decided to end the UNITAD mission by September because it claims the body has not provided enough evidence to Iraqi courts.
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In August 2014, the extremist ISIS group carried out an attack on the Yezidi-inhabited area of Sinjar, in which between 1,434 and 3,100 Yezidis were killed, while 6,800 were kidnapped, according to UNITAD.
UNITAD says ISIS seized every opportunity to inflict physical and biological destruction on the targeted group.
“ISIS openly acknowledged that it sought to eliminate the Yezidis as a religious group – through physical and biological destruction, if need be – and offered a theological justification for these actions,” UNITAD said.
Read More: KRG Asks for Return of Evidence Collected by UNITAD
The report also argued that ISIS was not satisfied with the expulsion of Yezidis, and tried to prevent Yezidi civilians from fleeing by encircling villages, setting up roadblocks, giving false assurances; and shooting at and killing civilians as they fled.
UNITAD concluded that it was the intention of ISIS to subject as many Yezidis as it could to its policy of forced conversion or death and enslavement.
Read More: Bundestag’s Yezidi Genocide Recognition is a Crucial step: German FM
So far, dozens of governments and international bodies have officially recognized the Yezidi Genocide, including Germany, the UK, France, and the Netherlands.
“UNITAD had previously announced that it had reasonable grounds to believe, based on clear and convincing evidence, that genocide was committed against the Yezidis as a religious group,” UNITAD Head Ana Peyro Llopis said in a public statement.
“Through the public version of this report, the world, and in particular survivors, can know on what basis this milestone finding was made. This is a critical step on the path to accountability and establishing the truth of what ISIS did in Iraq, hopefully to prevent such atrocities from happening again.”
The KRG has repeatedly called on foreign countries to recognize ISIS crimes against Yezidis as acts of genocide and has helped UNITAD to collect evidence.
“The KRG continues its unwavering efforts to secure international recognition of the atrocities committed by ISIS against the Yezidi Kurds as acts of genocide,” KRG Coordinator for International Advocacy Dr. Dindar Zebari said during an event in Ireland organized by the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs on September 10.
Moreover, he added that the KRG continues to advocate for the establishment of a specialized tribunal to prosecute ISIS perpetrators to ensure justice for the Yezidi Genocide.
