Islamic State still committing genocide against Iraq's Yazidis, UN says
| Publisher | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |
| Publication Date | 4 August 2017 |
| Cite as | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Islamic State still committing genocide against Iraq's Yazidis, UN says, 4 August 2017, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5a9fb77e4.html [accessed 30 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
August 04, 2017 05:48 GMT
Yazidis attend a commemoration marking the third anniversary of the Yazidi genocide in the Sinjar region of Iraq on August 3.
A United Nations commission said on August 3 that the Islamic State is still committing genocide against the Yazidi minority in Iraq and Syria and the world has done little to counter it.
As the campaign to retake the extremist group's stronghold in Raqqa intensifies, IS fighters are reportedly trying to sell enslaved Yazidi women and girls before fleeing, the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria said.
"The genocide is ongoing and remains largely unaddressed, despite the obligation of states...to prevent and to punish the crime," it said.
Thousands of Yazidis were seized by IS when it overran Iraq's northwestern town of Sinjar in August 2014, and most of them remain unaccounted for.
The town was regained from IS in late 2015 and 30 mass graves of Yazidis have since been found there. But an unknown number of the ethnic minority, which practices a unique religion that IS considers heretical, was moved to nearby Raqqa.
"Thousands of Yazidi men and boys remain missing and the terrorist group continues to subject some 3,000 women and girls in Syria to horrific violence including brutal daily rapes and beatings," the commission said.
Based on reporting by dpa and Reuters
Link to original story on RFE/RL website
