Commission on Syria: ISIS Committing Genocide Against the Yazidis

The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic has today released a report establishing that the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) is committing genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Yazidis. The report entitled “They Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis” focuses on violations committed against Yazidis inside Syria, where thousands of women and girls are still being held captive and abused, often as slaves.

Yazidi women in a refugee camp, August 2014

Yazidi women in a refugee camp, August 2014

“Genocide has occurred and is ongoing”, emphasised Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the Commission. “ISIS has subjected every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities.” ISIS sought – and continues to seek – to destroy the Yazidis in multiple ways, as envisaged by the 1948 Genocide Convention. “ISIS has sought to erase the Yazidis through killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer causing serious bodily and mental harm; the infliction of conditions of life that bring about a slow death; the imposition of measures to prevent Yazidi children from being born, including forced conversion of adults, the separation of Yazidi men and women, and mental trauma; and the transfer of Yazidi children from their own families and placing them with ISIS fighters, thereby cutting them off from beliefs and practices of their own religious community”, the report says. Continue reading

Event: The War on Terror, Part II: International Law after Paris

Guest Lecture co-organized by the International Law department of the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights as part of the Geneva Academy Wednesdays (GAW) series.

Paris

Date: Wednesday 16 December I 17:30

Venue:
Auditorium A2 I Maison de la Paix (Chemin Eugène-Rigot 2 - 1202 Geneva, Switzerland)

Marko Milanović - Associate Professor at the University of Nottingham and Visiting Professor at the Geneva Academy - will explore the key legal issues and challenges arising from the recent attacks carried out around the world by the Islamic State’s followers. In particular, Professor Milanović will address:

  • The interplay between international humanitarian law (IHL), human rights law and terrorism;
  • The geographic and temporal scope of IHL;
  • The law on the use of force, in light of the recent strikes by France, UK and other countries on Syrian soil.

Antonio Coco and Patryk Labuda will serve as discussants, after which the floor will be opened up to comments and questions.

If you plan to attend, please register here.