Without Justice, Iraq’s Minorities Have No Future

Dr. Ewelina U. Ochab, Coalition for Genocide Response

In September 2023, the international community was surprised by Iraq's request not to renew the mandate of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL (UNITAD) beyond September 2024. The communities affected by the atrocities committed by Daesh were shocked. Ultimately, justice and accountability have not been secured yet –– so why close it prematurely? 

UNITAD was established by way of a U.N. Security Council resolution 2379 in 2017, which mandated it to “collect, preserve, and store evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by [Daesh] in Iraq.” The crimes refer to the genocidal campaign of Daesh perpetrated against Yazidis and other religious minorities in Iraq with a litany of atrocities, including murder, enslavement, deportation and forcible transfer of populations, imprisonment, torture, abduction of women and children, exploitation, abuse, sexual violence and much more. As per the resolution, the evidence obtained was to be used “before national courts, and complementing investigations being carried out by the Iraqi authorities, or investigations carried out by authorities in third countries at their request.” The resolution also raises the possibility that the newly established team could collect evidence of Daesh atrocities in countries other than Iraq. Nevertheless, any such request would first need to be approved by the U.N. Security Council.

Over the past few years of its existence, UNITAD has been working with victims and survivors to document the horrific atrocities. It worked on excavating mass graves and bringing closure to the families of those who were killed. It has also been working with prosecutors in 14 countries to ensure that the evidence could be used to prosecute the perpetrators globally, including based on the principle of universal jurisdiction or extraterritorial jurisdiction. 

However, what UNITAD could not do was to share the collected evidence with the Iraqi counterparts. This is because Iraq still has the death penalty. UNITAD, a UN mechanism, could not share evidence that could result in the death penalty. And indeed, in Iraq, terrorism related charges, the most common charges used against Daesh fighters, carry the death penalty. 

This was known from the beginning, and from before UNITAD was established. However, in September 2023, when announcing its decision, Iraq raised the fact that UNITAD was not sharing the evidence with Iraq as a reason for closing down UNITAD. 

In September 2024, UNITAD ceased to exist. The evidence collected so far is now stored in the headquarters of the UN in New York, and there has been no indication of what comes next, despite proposals from governments and non-governmental organisations. 

Can the evidence collected so far be used? Some of it, definitely. However, a lot of the evidence has yet to be analysed and catalogued for any use. There also needs to be a proper plan in place, and maybe a follow-up mechanism, to ensure that all the evidence collected so far can be used, and used safely, to ensure justice and accountability for victims/survivors and deliver on the promises made to-date. Leaving the evidence in storage at the UN will not achieve that. Furthermore, many mass graves are yet to be excavated, and victims/survivors yet to be interviewed. 

Why is it important to ensure justice and accountability? Justice and accountability are key to addressing the horrific atrocities that Yazidis and other religious minorities have been subjected to. It is also key to establish facts and for it to become part of the national history –– history that one needs to engage with to ensure social cohesion. 

Indeed, we must remember what we are talking about –– some of the most egregious atrocities seen in recent years and atrocities meeting the legal definition of genocide. On August 3, 2014, Daesh launched a devastating attack on Sinjar, inflicting widespread atrocities on the Yazidi community. The terror group killed thousands, predominantly targeting men and elderly women, while abducting boys to forcibly conscript them as child soldiers. Thousands of women and girls were kidnapped and subjected to sexual violence. To this day, over 2,600 Yazidi women and children remain unaccounted for. Daesh’s crimes included murder, enslavement, deportation, and forced displacement. The group systematically imprisoned, tortured, abducted, exploited, abused, raped, and coerced women into marriages across the region. In the days following the Sinjar assault, Daesh expanded its campaign of terror to other communities in the Nineveh Plains, causing 120,000 people to flee in the dead of night in a desperate bid to save their lives. 

The atrocities are recognised as genocide by several domestic courts, including in Germany and Sweden, and several other trials are ongoing. The evidence collected by UNITAD has been used in such trials and helped in their successful conviction. The crimes have also been recognised by several parliaments and governments. However, other narratives denying the crime and the experiences continue to this day. Establishing the truth, including through justice processes, is key to addressing such disinformation, misinformation and genocide denialism 

Justice and accountability are also key to preventing future atrocities. Indeed, impunity for past atrocities is an early warning sign and risk factor of future atrocities. As such, there is more at stake than “only” punishing the perpetrators. The future of the targeted communities depends on it. Whether and how we address the atrocities will define whether the communities have a future.

Dr Ewelina U. Ochab is a lawyer, human rights advocate, and author. Dr Ochab is a programme lawyer with the IBA's Human Rights Institute and co-founder of the Coalition for Genocide Response. Dr Ochab works on the topic of genocide, with specific focus on the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities around the world, with main projects including the Daesh genocide in Syria and Iraq,