By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Yazidi Rights Groups, Non-Governmental Organizations, and the Kurdish Regional Government in Iraq Petitioned the International Criminal Court to investigate and prosecute ISIS for crimes against humanity and genocide for the terrorist organizations atrocities committed against citizens in Iraq and Syria.
Ekurd Daily reported how the new effort to bring legal accountability to actors in the war torn region.
Members of Yazda International and Free Yazidi Foundation, backed by the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq (KRG), met with ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda today to present their new report outlining how [ISIS] fighters have slaughtered, enslaved, and raped thousands of Yazidis since it invaded their communities in the Nineveh province in northern Iraq last August. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls remain captive as sex slaves among IS militants.
These acts of violence committed by [ISIS] fighters against the Yazidis and other non-Muslim minorities in the region have been documented before. But Murad Ismael, co-founder of Yazda, told VICE News his group’s report provides further evidence of abuses against Yazidis at the hands of foreign fighters. According to the report, there’s an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people from Australia, Jordan, Europe, and beyond fighting for [ISIS].
“Foreign fighters have been heavily involved in the sex trade of Yazidi women and girls. And that means that the ICC and the rest of the international community should not ignore the ways they are subjecting the Yazidis to very inhuman and barbaric acts,” Ismael said from The Hague. “This report provides new information and context for the role of foreign fighters, who hold high ranking positions within IS, and shows that the court should hold them accountable for their crimes.”
A former prosecutor with the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, submitted to The Hague a petition to investigate. He believes there is cause to investigate and prosecute as he believes it is important to bring to justice those who perpetrate genocide, namely against ethnic minorities living in the Levant.
Though both Syria and Iraq are not member states of the ICC, he hopes that Iraq at least will sign treaties with the ICC to help in the prosecution of ISIS. At present it is certainly difficult to extradite ISIS actors due to the situation on the ground in ISIS controlled areas, but as with other conflicts it is a regular practice that prosecutions follow the cessation of hostilities. A further complication to jurisdiction is that ISIS is not a recognized, or for that matter an internationally accredited statutory state, the action might surely motivate member states to modify the ICC’s charter to include such organizations, at least perhaps in the future.
By Darren Smith
Source: eKurd Daily
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
Each side claiming rationale in the name of God and Country. I’m pretty sure ISIS was created by NATO to be the scape goat for such events, most of them false flags to foster greater public opinion for the continuation of war mongering. Who is manufacturing all the weapons?
This women is interesting because she is able to recall many of the players and agencies involved: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8ly0c0_Rnk
Sometimes the bottom line has nothing to do with religion, who was there first, fallout from past colonial adventures, etc. Sometimes it is as simple as eradicating thuggery. These guys are simple thugs who are trying to carve out a place where they can be top dogs. Gangs do it in LA. Mobsters do it all over the world. In Italy and Southern France a night club owner, restaurant owner, etc keeps three sets of books. One for the government, one for the Mafia, and one for themselves. Extortion is what it is all about. The difference is that in most places in the world it is simply business and is designed so that all parties can make out, the government, the Mafia, and the owner; in Syria and Iraq it is born out of chaos and is designed by mentally deranged fanatics to create what ever it is they are creating through bloodbaths.
In this case and as they have declared war on everyone else including the US, France, GB, etc. the most appropriate way to deal with them is to eradicate them using more and more creative and task specific methods. This is the perfect opportunity to transition from the imbecilic ‘invasions’ methods to the surgical removal methods. A laser guided bomb taking out a bunch of them on a consistent basis, special forces dropping in and rapidly leaving, and other methods are the ways of tomorrow’s wars that the Western World should be practicing. Wax them as fast as can be done.
Off topic. But related to ISIS. The topic is Pedophile Priests. The Pope addressed the issue today. We need an Internet list of these perps. Victims and brothers and relatives of victims should hunt down the PPs and do the following: tie them to a cross, cut off the weeny, stuff it in the mouth, mount the cross on the church grounds.
Max-1…..There is currently (recently) a settlement of c. One $Billion from the government to Native Americans….I don’t know the allocation among tribes or other details.
The Navajo tribe got a settlement of about 500 $million a few years back….their reservation owns about 14,000,000 acres of land. Income from farming, mining, timber etc. is said to be substantial.
There appears to be ongoing litigation re reparations…..I can’t speak to the fairness of those reparations, or if ANY amount of reparations would be considered sufficient by some.
I draw a distinction between an organization like ISIS currently engagong in wholesale butchery, and the current U.S. government treatment of Native Americans.
This is somewhat related to Obama’s warning that before we “get on our high horse”, we should look at the Crusades and colonization of Arab lands.
With that kind of reasoning, FDR may well have turned his “date which will live in infamy” speech into warning about a “high horse” mentality, given Commodore Perry’s forcible opening of Japan to trade a century before.
I don’t think that the U.S. has .given itself a pass” on past transgressions like slavery or atrocities commited upon Native Americans. And I think ISIS does not deserve a pass based on past U.S. behavior.
If we had entered WWII with that kind of mentality, I don’t think the Axis nations would have been defeated.
Tom
You make a good point…
… Why should any nation be made to pay for their transgressions. I’m sure ISIS will argue so, no?
I watched a documentary which included a spokeswoman for the Lakota Sioux.
She spoke proudly of the many conquests and military might of the Sioux, before the American government settled the West.
Should the Sioux be required to pay reparations for land they took by conquest from other tribes?
Tom Nash wrote: “Should the Sioux be required to pay reparations for land they took by conquest from other tribes?”
Not unless the “other tribes” can prove the terms of the contract, causation, and damages, e.g,, a ratified US treaty with one of the Sioux bands.
If the US didn’t do something it was supposed to do in a ratified treaty, and the Sioux performed their end of the deal, then, yeah, reparations should be paid. For instance, the Lakota promise to live on reservation in exchange for protection from the white hoard. In performance, the Spotted Elk’s band come in and lay down their arms and are then slaughtered Sounds like a case for reparations to me, notwithstanding SCOTUS’s determination that revoking treaties is constitutional. Reparations shouldn’t depend on whether the treaty is revoked, as long as the performance occurred while the treaty was in effect.
In contrast and off the top of my head, slavery is a bit different: though morally reprehensible, arguing on a strictly antiseptic legal basis only, unless slavery was illegal at the time of the slave’s performance, then there shouldn’t be reparations.
Send your hate mail to: [insert email address].
This just in from the Washington Post’s chad: VW is now the official car of the New England Patriots.
Unusual bed fellows:
France carried out its first air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria on Sunday, as Russia said it was seeking a “coordinated framework” to fight the jihadists.
Afghanistan:
At least 300 Islamic State fighters have attacked checkpoints in eastern Afghanistan, in a rare co-ordinated assault on the security forces.
Militants affiliated to Islamic State have been gaining support in Afghanistan.
“You’re preaching to the choir. What do you suggest as a remedy rather than a cause?”
Stevegroen
On here?! I’m not sure about that.
Remedies:
– Cease the promulgation of propaganda regarding the Founding Fathers and “their deep commitment” to liberty. There are great individual examples of some Founding Fathers, on particular occasions, exhibiting a commitment to liberty (parts of the Constitution are glorious). But otherwise the jig is up (we do have access to some genuine history) – the founding fathers saw my ancestors as nothing more than a pawn in a merchant’s/oligarch’s game.
– International and Domestic Acknowledgement codified through law (treaty and statute).
– Reparations for the remaining Native American population.
I think Chip Kelly should google Leibniz because even if he is the smartest guy in the room with X’s and O’s, he shouldn’t be so sure of it (He had to call Willie Lyles just like the rest of the slimy coaches to gain status).
And yes, the international definition as applied properly through its words and meanings would indict and convict those treasured men posted above in all their glory.
But the U.S. is uniquely self-immunized from International criminal law…. Rule of law for who?? I thought this separated our wonderful state??
Not a worry here, go get kids that look like Mike Brown!!! Protect our brands and property!
According to international law (not respected by most people on here):
Elements:
1) the mental element, meaning the “intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such”, and
2) the physical element which includes five acts described in sections a, b, c, d and e. A crime must include both elements to be called “genocide.”
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Acts to be punished:
(a) Genocide;
(b) Conspiracy to commit genocide;
(c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide;
(d) Attempt to commit genocide;
(e) Complicity in genocide. ”
In the U.S. our history is couched in genocide, we are a settler colonial society. Basic facts….
Chipster,
You’re preaching to the choir. What do you suggest as a remedy rather than a cause?
And why Leibniz? Kelly knows Xs and Os, not philosophy.
The US, UK, and France (which apparently just flew its first sorties there), among others wanting to keep the US happy, should stay out of Syria and its politics. Let Russia assist Syria in its defense against ISIL.
The western allies should stick to Iraq’s defense against ISIL, if they’re going to be there at all and assuming the puppet Iraqi government has authorized foreign military presence.
More violations of other sovereigns’ borders accomplishes nothing except mass homicide of innocents, visits to parents with notification of death of a loved one, and profits to the military-industrial complex.
And have the guts to be signatories to the ICC. Then, clean house.
Ok Chipster, tell us.
Darren Smith will save us hahaha
I’m not sure everyone here understands the definition of genocide though.
Most Americans have no idea what’s taking place on U.S. soil. One day…
The Rise of ISIS and the Logic of Fanaticism
by Elliot Ackerman
Sep. 27 2015, 9:35 a.m.
https://theintercept.com/2015/09/27/black-flags-behind-rise-isis/
A great and bold step.
…NICK. ..don’t you remember Ninian’s international court system? Under the Ninian Doctrine, we just file charges against them. When they submit to the decision of the World Court, there will be no need for crude military action.
ISIS is a Pirate Territory, without a distinct territory. They need to be killed, and not given any right to surrender. If they are captured, they should walk the plank immediately. No Gitmo, no trials.
Justice for ISIS will not be in a courtroom. It will be on the battlefield.