Kubiš on Yezidi New Year Celebration: They Have Suffered Immensely from Daesh Atrocities and Deserve to Live in Peace, Dignity, Freedom and in Full respect of their Rights
20 April 2016
Baghdad, Iraq, 20 April 2016 – The Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Ján Kubiš, extends his best wishes to the Yezidi community of Iraq on the occasion of their new year, and also remembers those Yezidi who have been killed and displaced as well as the suffering of the thousands of their women who have been kidnapped and who continue to be subjected to slavery by the Daesh terrorists.
“While this is a celebration of the new year by an ancient community, it is also a particularly painful reminder of the current suffering of the Yezidi people at the hands of the terrorists of Daesh since 2014,” the SRSG said.
“More than 3,500 women, mainly Yezidi, remain enslaved by the terrorists and subjected to horrific violations on a daily basis. Many Yezidi children were kidnapped, hundreds of men were killed and thousands others fled their homes to escape the onslaught of Daesh which singled out this community for particular savagery.”
The United Nations has consistently acknowledged that the human rights abuses committed by Daesh against Yezidi and other communities may constitute international crimes, including war crimes, against humanity and genocide.
The SRSG repeats his call on the Government of Iraq to ensure accountability for these terrible crimes and justice for the victims and survivors by granting to Iraqi courts jurisdiction over international crimes, as well as to consider becoming a signatory to the Statute of the International Criminal Court or to refer the current conflict to the jurisdiction of the Court pursuant to its statute. By so doing the Government of Iraq will signal its seriousness of intent to the international community that any individual who may have committed atrocity crimes against the Iraqi people will be held accountable according to law.
The SRSG recalls the diversity of Iraq’s people is the country’s biggest source of wealth which must be protected and respected by its government and people. “The Yezidi are among the most vulnerable communities and have suffered immensely from Daesh’s atrocities. Like all minorities and the rest of the Iraqi people, they deserve to live in peace, dignity, freedom and in full respect of their rights.”
He notes that since the last observation of the Yezidi new year, the town of Sinjar, site of Daesh massacres of the Yezidi, was liberated in November 2015. The SRSG expresses his hope that the next celebration will be one in which those held captive by Daesh will celebrate in freedom and that all those who have been displaced as a result of conflict will have been able to return freely to their places of origin.
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