Ms. Wassifa Sheikho, a former member of the Iraqi parliament and member of the “Elite” Network for Progress and Development, stated at the 3rd International Conference on the Future of Peace and Human Rights in West Asia: “ISIS separates Yazidi men and boys over the age of 12, then killed those who refused to convert to Islam in order to Destruction of the Yazidi identity. In many cases, women and children witnessed these killings before being deported to specific locations in Iraq and Syria.
Ms. Wassafia Sheikho started her talk on the issue of human rights violations during the genocide in Iraq by defining the concept of genocide and said: “The international definition of genocide was mentioned in the International Convention for the Prevention of Genocide of 1948, and its second article stipulated that genocide means any of the acts The following are committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such: killing members of the group, deliberately subjecting the group to living conditions intended to destroy it in whole or in part, imposing measures designed to prevent the birth of children within the group, transferring children from a group force to another group. After referring to the genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine and other countries, he described the genocide as a war crime, and it is among the crimes committed against the laws and customs of war and includes assassinations, ill-treatment, displacement of populations, killing or cruel treatment of prisoners of war, killing of hostages and looting public funds. and the destruction of cities and villages and the demolition that is not justified by military exigencies.
In reference to the destruction of Kurdish villages and the displacement of thousands of Kurds in the seventies and eighties by the Iraqi regime, the former Iraqi MP said: “The international courts had an important role in exposing some historical facts through the court of some officials and leaders accused of committing war crimes in many countries, and some observers believe The international courts are merely fictitious courts that aim to mislead public opinion, especially since they are a biased court that ignores many major cases and crimes committed by the great powers and their allies.” He referred to the report of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on ISIS crimes such as killing civilians, kidnapping and rape, slavery and trafficking in women and children, forced recruitment of children, destruction of places of religious or cultural significance, looting and deprivation of basic freedoms, and the systematic and deliberate targeting of members of Iraq’s diverse ethnic and religious components.
The Rapporteur of the Committee on Women’s Rights in the former Iraqi parliament spoke in more detail about the genocide perpetrated by ISIS against the Yazidis, and described the bitter reality of ISIS’s genocidal operations: “ISIS separated Yazidi men and boys over the age of 12 from the rest of their families and killed those who They refused to change their religion in order to destroy their identity as Yazidis. Women and children witnessed these killings in many cases before being deported to sites in Iraq and then in Syria where most of the kidnapped stayed Thousands of women and girls were sold, some as young as nine years old According to the report, these women and girls were kept by ISIS fighters in conditions of servitude and sexual slavery and were repeatedly sold, gifted or exchanged between fighters. Many women and girls were treated Yazidi women were described as personal belongings of the fighters and forced to perform household tasks and were deprived of adequate food and drink, according to testimonies that some of these women and girls Suicide to escape this cruel treatment.”
At the end of her speech, the member of the “Elite” Network for Progress and Development called on the Iraqi government to conduct an effective, accurate and impartial investigation into any allegations of violations or abuses of international human rights law and serious violations of international humanitarian law and, when necessary, to prosecute those responsible for these acts, especially if these acts constitute international crimes. Therefore, such violations and abuses lead to raising the victims’ right to an effective remedy, which guarantees them the right to obtain justice in an equal and effective manner and adequate compensation for the harm they have suffered.
