What Will Happen To The Evidence Of Daesh Atrocities Against The Yazidis?

In September 2023, news circulated about the plans to close down the U.N. mechanism to collect and preserve evidence of the atrocities perpetrated by Daesh, the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL (UNITAD). If this was not bad enough, subsequently, the media reported on the Iraqi Government proceeding with amnesty legislation that may also include Daesh fighters. The Yazidi community, the community most affected by the atrocities of Daesh, or other religious minorities targeted, have not been contacted in relation to these decisions. Many questions remain. What will happen to the evidence of the Daesh atrocities? What is being done to ensure that Daesh members are not freed from prisons? What will be done to ensure justice and accountability for the Daesh atrocities in the changing climate?

UNITAD was established by the U.N. Security Council in 2017. It was mandated with “collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by [Daesh] in Iraq.” On August 3, 2014, Daesh, a non-state actor with unprecedented support from foreign fighters, attacked Sinjar and unleashed prohibited acts against the Yazidis, an ethno-religious minority group in Iraq. Daesh perpetrated a litany of atrocities, including murder, enslavement, deportation and forcible transfer of populations, imprisonment, torture, abduction of women and children, exploitation, abuse, rape, and sexual violence. Daesh fighters killed hundreds if not thousands of people. As part of the same campaign, Daesh fighters abducted boys to turn them into child soldiers and women and girls for sex slavery. More than 2,700 women and children are still missing and their fate is unknown. The atrocities have been recognized as meeting the legal definition of genocide by the governments of the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands, several parliaments, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and bodies of the United Nations.