Yezidi community looks for international justice
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—Inspired by Nadia Murad, recently named a UN Goodwill Ambassador, other members of the Yezidi community are speaking out to gain justice and international recognition of the crimes committed against the Yezidi people by the Islamic State (ISIS).
“In genocide cases, you have to learn one thing: how to listen to the victims, what they want, what kind of justice they want,” explained Hussein Hasoon, special advisor to the Prime Minister on Recognition of Genocide of Minorities in the Kurdistan Region.
In preparation for a post-ISIS future, many in the Yezidi community struggle to articulate what justice will look like. Hasoon believes that most want to see international recognition of the crimes committed against them.
“The Yezidi community wants international justice in an international court. Not a local court, not an Iraqi justice, they want international justice,” he stressed. “So we need to listen to them. These are the people who have suffered from the crimes.”
“They need to pass their message to the whole community. Nadia Murad is one way to do that,” he added.
After three months in captivity, Murad escaped ISIS and sought asylum in Germany. She became an activist on behalf of her people, and is a public face of the Yezidi community, widely recognized throughout the world.
In addition to being named Goodwill Ambassador to the UN, Murad has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2016. Her bravery in telling her own horrific story has sparked a movement of Yezidi girls and women within the community to come forward and tell their own stories.
“I am very happy and grateful to our spiritual council of the Yezidi community as well as the members of the community to receive and to accept these girls with open arms and to give them the freedom to talk,” Hasoon said.
“I tell them that we need to hear what happened to you so don't be ashamed. What happened to you was not your fault. Just tell us what has been done to you. Although Nadia Murad is the most famous, all of them are talking. We have enough cases of girls and they are talking freely about what has happened to them.”
Hasoon said the Yezidi community is grateful to the United Nations for supporting Murad and appointing her as goodwill ambassador, drawing attention to the community’s efforts for global recognition of the genocide committed against them.
“This is a very positive development for us, for our commission, for our case, for our legal case to pass the message of international justice, to pass the message to the Security Council to refer the case to the ICC [International Criminal Court], to pass the message to the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad to sign and join the ICC or to give a limited permission to the ICC to come and investigate the crimes committed against these groups.”
Murad and the Yezidi activist group Yazda are leading efforts to bring the perpetrators of the crimes against the Yezidi community to justice. They are represented by internationally known human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, building a case of genocide against the Islamic State they hope to bring to the ICC.
“We must push the international community to take steps to prevent this from happening again,” Hasoon added, noting that Iraq is a signatory of the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Hasoon is open to the possibility of a truth and reconciliation committee similar to what South Africa held when the Apartheid regime ended in the early 1990’s. However there is currently little momentum for such an endeavor at this early stage.
“I am a big supporter of a truth commission,” he said. “I have made a plan to the government, to our high commission with some colleagues of mine how to pursue this. One of the options is establishing a truth
commission. The Canadian government is supporting me but we need to study more and do more about that.”
Preventing the re-emergence of ISIS goes far beyond what can be done militarily or simply eliminating its leadership, according to Hasoon.
“By killing Osama Bin Laden, you are not going to solve the problem,” Hasoon explained. “Osama Bin Laden is going to appear somewhere else. We need to know where the ideology comes from and we need to do something about. We must fire against it at all fronts.”
“In genocide cases, you have to learn one thing: how to listen to the victims, what they want, what kind of justice they want,” explained Hussein Hasoon, special advisor to the Prime Minister on Recognition of Genocide of Minorities in the Kurdistan Region.
In preparation for a post-ISIS future, many in the Yezidi community struggle to articulate what justice will look like. Hasoon believes that most want to see international recognition of the crimes committed against them.
“The Yezidi community wants international justice in an international court. Not a local court, not an Iraqi justice, they want international justice,” he stressed. “So we need to listen to them. These are the people who have suffered from the crimes.”
“They need to pass their message to the whole community. Nadia Murad is one way to do that,” he added.
After three months in captivity, Murad escaped ISIS and sought asylum in Germany. She became an activist on behalf of her people, and is a public face of the Yezidi community, widely recognized throughout the world.
In addition to being named Goodwill Ambassador to the UN, Murad has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people of 2016. Her bravery in telling her own horrific story has sparked a movement of Yezidi girls and women within the community to come forward and tell their own stories.
“I am very happy and grateful to our spiritual council of the Yezidi community as well as the members of the community to receive and to accept these girls with open arms and to give them the freedom to talk,” Hasoon said.
“I tell them that we need to hear what happened to you so don't be ashamed. What happened to you was not your fault. Just tell us what has been done to you. Although Nadia Murad is the most famous, all of them are talking. We have enough cases of girls and they are talking freely about what has happened to them.”
Hasoon said the Yezidi community is grateful to the United Nations for supporting Murad and appointing her as goodwill ambassador, drawing attention to the community’s efforts for global recognition of the genocide committed against them.
“This is a very positive development for us, for our commission, for our case, for our legal case to pass the message of international justice, to pass the message to the Security Council to refer the case to the ICC [International Criminal Court], to pass the message to the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad to sign and join the ICC or to give a limited permission to the ICC to come and investigate the crimes committed against these groups.”
Murad and the Yezidi activist group Yazda are leading efforts to bring the perpetrators of the crimes against the Yezidi community to justice. They are represented by internationally known human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, building a case of genocide against the Islamic State they hope to bring to the ICC.
“We must push the international community to take steps to prevent this from happening again,” Hasoon added, noting that Iraq is a signatory of the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Hasoon is open to the possibility of a truth and reconciliation committee similar to what South Africa held when the Apartheid regime ended in the early 1990’s. However there is currently little momentum for such an endeavor at this early stage.
“I am a big supporter of a truth commission,” he said. “I have made a plan to the government, to our high commission with some colleagues of mine how to pursue this. One of the options is establishing a truth
commission. The Canadian government is supporting me but we need to study more and do more about that.”
Preventing the re-emergence of ISIS goes far beyond what can be done militarily or simply eliminating its leadership, according to Hasoon.
“By killing Osama Bin Laden, you are not going to solve the problem,” Hasoon explained. “Osama Bin Laden is going to appear somewhere else. We need to know where the ideology comes from and we need to do something about. We must fire against it at all fronts.”