ADVOCATES for the Yazidi people of northern Iraq, who have been targeted by Daesh because they are not Muslims, urged the International Criminal Court yesterday to investigate their persecution as a potential case of genocide.
In a meeting with ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, two Yazidi groups submitted a report detailing atrocities they allege Daesh fighters in northern Iraq have perpetrated since August last year.
They include the summary executions of more than 700 Yazidi men, the killing of the sick and elderly, the rape and enslavement of thousands of women and the abduction of their children, who are forced to convert to Islam and fight for Daesh.
More than 400,000 Yazidis have fled Iraq’s Sinjar and Nineveh plains districts, at times with the help of US and Iraqi strikes against Daesh forces.
They are now living in camps in areas controlled by the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq.
Daesh has openly said it wants to eliminate the Yazidi religion, which it regards as heathen.
Yazidis believe in one god and their theology mostly derives from ancient Iranian religious traditions, rather than canonical Jewish, Christian or Islamic texts.
A spokeswoman for Bensouda confirmed she has received the report but could not comment further.
The court’s previous prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, who helped put together the Yazidis’ submission, said in an interview this month he believed the treatment of the Yazidis was a clear case of genocide.
Bensouda has previously acknowledged that Daesh fighters appeared to be committing grave crimes in Iraq and Syria.
She has called on the international community to act as she has no jurisdiction because Iraq and Syria are not ICC members.
The report submitted by the Free Yezidi Foundation and Yazda, with the support of the KRG of Iraq, argues the court has jurisdiction over some 5,000-7,500 foreign fighters within Daesh who come from ICC member states, including about 2,000 from France, Britain, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands.
The ICC was set up in 2002 to carry out prosecutions of people suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.
Bensouda said in April the court could in theory exercise “personal jurisdiction” over individuals from member states who have joined Daesh.
The Yazidi groups said yesterday they had evidence that foreigners played an important role within the militant Sunni group, which is also known as Islamic State.
“They are a significant portion of Islamic State,” Murad Ismael of Yazda said in The Hague.
“They are responsible for running the media, they are responsible for the funding, they are responsible for the training and, more importantly, foreign members that we were able to identify were responsible for the sex trade in Yezidi women and girls, some as young as six years old.”
The groups want Bensouda to review publicly available evidence and legal arguments to see whether her office has jurisdiction and can open a formal investigation.
The UN Security Council could also refer the case to the ICC regardless of whether a state is a member of the court, as it did over genocide allegations in the Darfur region of Sudan.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here