Yazidis demand genocide investigations at the ICC
Members of the Yazidi community have filed a communication at the
ICC requesting the opening of a preliminary examination of the crimes
committed in Sinjar.
One year after ISIL attacked the Yazidi religious community in Iraq,
victims and representatives have approached the ICC. On Thursday morning
a Yazidi group met with chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in The Hague, a
spokesperson for the group said.
The Yazidi filed a report of more than 50 pages which entails both
the crimes allegedly committed against the religious group since August
2014 in Northern Iraq and a way to prosecute the perpetrators.
In the communication,
the group refers to reports by human rights organizations which have
concluded that ISIL targets Yazidi people on religious grounds. The UN
already stated attacks on the Yazidi group could be genocide.
Since Iraq is not a state party to the ICC’s Rome Statue, the crimes
committed on its territory fall outside the jurisdiction of the court. A
way for the ICC to intervene in the conflict could be to prosecute ISIL
members on the basis of their nationality.
Though, in April 2015, the Prosecutor decided not to open a preliminary examination into the situation
citing a “too narrow [jurisdictional basis] at this stage.“ The
prosecutor, however, said she remained open for evidence which could
provide „further clarity on the position occupied by State Party
Nationals within the ISIS organizational hierarchy.“
Fatou Bensouda: Chief Prosecutor in The Hague. Photo: icc-cpi