Six Years Ago They Came To Destroy But Faced No Legal Consequences
A group of Yazidis at a refugee center in Iraq. Creative Commons photo.
(OPINION) Six years ago, on Aug. 3, 2014, members of the terror organization Daesh (commonly referred to as Islamic State or ISIL) launched a violent attack against Yazidis in Sinjar, Iraq. Daesh fighters killed hundreds, if not thousands of men. As part of the same campaign, Daesh fighters abducted boys to turn them into child soldiers and women and girls for sex slavery. Thousands of women and girls are still missing and their fate is unknown.
A few days after the attack on Sinjar, Daesh also attacked the Ninevah Plains and forced over 120,000 people to flee for their lives in the middle of the night. Daesh committed murder, enslavement, deportation and forcible transfer of population, imprisonment, torture, abduction of women and children, exploitation, abuse, rape, sexual violence and forced marriage. The atrocities have been recognized, at an international level, as crimes against humanity, war crimes and even genocide, the crime of crimes. The number of those killed by Daesh is still not known. Mass graves continue to be discovered. Lessons learned from other historic mass atrocities suggest that mass graves will continue to be discovered for decades to come. For the families of those who disappeared, this is their harsh reality.
Six years later, the Daesh ideology is still alive and there are still hotspots of Daesh support both in Syria and Iraq, currently estimated at more than 10,000 in both countries combined. Reports suggest that Daesh has been using the pandemic, and particularly the fact that state resources have been re-directed to respond to it, to consolidate power yet again. Indeed, a recent UN report states that, “[t]he impact of the [Covid-19] pandemic on terrorism has varied between conflict zones and non-conflict zones and between short-and longer-term threats. Groups are using the outbreak to advance propaganda and fundraising and, in some regions, are seeking to take advantage of perceptions that the attention of security forces is diverted elsewhere... It has exploited security gaps caused by the pandemic and by political turbulence in Iraq to relaunch a sustained rural insurgency, as well as sporadic operations in Baghdad and other large cities.” The UN report warns that “should the pandemic lead to a severe global recession, the international community may be faced with further headwinds in countering terrorism and extremist narratives.”
Six years later, the perpetrators have not been brought to justice. Six years after Daesh unleashed genocide in Iraq, survivors and the families of the victims are still waiting for justice being served. The communities, once targeted for annihilation, deserve justice for the atrocities they have endured. The lack of justice sends the outrageous message that it is possible to get away with genocide. If we have learned anything from similar atrocities it is that we cannot allow an atmosphere of impunity to flourish.
Six years later, victims and survivors have not received the assistance they needed. As Angelina Jolie, UNHCR Special Envoy, emphasized when speaking at the UN Security Council in July 2020, “We have to be prepared to admit where we have failed, and do the hard work to support survivors, change laws and attitudes and bring perpetrators to account, over many years… These are all promises that must be kept.”
On July 30, 2020, Amnesty International published its new report, Legacy Of Terror: The Plight of Yezidi Child Survivors of ISIS, documenting the experiences of children who were abducted, enslaved, tortured, forced to fight, raped and subjected to numerous other atrocities. The report shows how the national authorities and international community are failing to meet their needs, whether in the area of physical and mental health, education and civil documentation. It also presents new findings on the situation of Yazidi women who gave birth to children as a result of rape and sexual violence by Daesh members during their captivity.
These new findings only add to the grim experiences of victims and survivors of the Daesh genocide. The failed responses to the Daesh atrocities are a legacy that we cannot leave for future generations to repeat. We must do better. The failed responses are not the final word. We can still turn this legacy around. However, for this to happen, we need to act now and to combat the lack of political will to engage on the issue. No perpetrator of mass atrocities should get a free out of jail card. Accountability must follow and it must follow now.
Ewelina U. Ochab is a legal researcher and human rights advocate, PhD candidate and author of the book “Never Again: Legal Responses to a Broken Promise in the Middle East” and more than 30 UN reports. She works on the topic of persecution of minorities around the world. This piece was re-published from Forbes with permission.