The British government has officially recognized that the Islamic State (ISIS) committed “acts of genocide” against the Yazidi people in 2014. During ISIS’ rule in the northern Iraq province of Sinjar, the Yazidis, targeted for their pre-Islamic religion, experienced massacres, forced marriages, and sex slavery. The UK foreign office made the announcement ahead of events commemorating the “nine-year anniversary of atrocities” against the Kurdish-speaking Yazidi minority in Iraq. The statement referred to ISIS as “Daesh,” another name for the terrorist group.
This acknowledgment marks only the fifth time the UK has recognized an instance of genocide, following the Holocaust, Rwanda, Srebrenica, and acts of genocide in Cambodia. UK’s Middle East minister, Tariq Ahmad, emphasized the significance of justice and accountability for the victims, who continue to suffer the consequences of ISIS’ actions even after nine years. Murad Ismael, co-founder of the Yazda organization, considers the UK recognition a crucial step in the justice process and aiding victims’ healing from the deep wounds of the genocide.
Nadia Murad, a Yazidi Nobel Peace Prize Laureate campaigning against sexual violence in war, particularly against the Yazidis, expressed her satisfaction with the UK’s formal recognition of the Yazidis’ suffering as genocide. She hopes the British government will pursue justice by holding British-born ISIS fighters accountable for their actions. The UK’s position had been that determinations of genocide should be made by competent courts, similar to the German court ruling that found a former ISIS fighter guilty of acts of genocide in Iraq.
Germany’s landmark trial sentenced Taha al-Jumailly to life in prison for crimes, including the murder of a five-year-old Yazidi girl. The German court’s verdict was upheld, and Germany is among the few countries to have taken legal action against ISIS. The UK’s House of Commons unanimously voted to condemn ISIS’ treatment of Yazidis and Christians as genocide in 2016, though the foreign ministry initially refused to acknowledge it. Nearly six years since Iraq declared “victory” over ISIS, many Yazidis are still unable to return to Sinjar, with thousands living in displaced people’s camps and facing security issues and lack of public services upon return.
SOURCE: Ref Image from The Times of Isreal
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