Nobel Laureate Criticizes UN’s Inability to Prosecute IS Members for War Crimes

Nora confronted the individual who had enslaved, abused, and killed her five-year-old daughter in a Munich courtroom. In 2015, Nora and Reda were captives of the jihadist organization Islamic State (IS) in Iraq. This was one year after IS initiated what the UN has described as a genocidal campaign targeting the Yazidi religious minority. Taha al-Jumailly and Jennifer Wenisch, an IS couple who had journeyed to Fallujah from Germany, “bought” them as slaves. During late July, five-year-old Reda fell ill and wet her bed. As a form of punishment, Al-Jumailly led the young girl outdoors and secured her with chains to a window in 50C degree heat. He and his spouse abandoned the child, allowing her to succumb to dehydration, while her mother, confined indoors, was powerless to intervene. Wenisch was among the initial IS members to face trial and be found guilty of a war crime in 2021. One month subsequent to this, Al-Jumailly received a conviction for genocide. Nora’s testimony played a crucial role in obtaining these convictions. “This is possible, it’s been done,” states Nobel Peace Prize-winner Nadia Murad, a Yazidi activist who shares Nora’s village of origin and has dedicated the last 10 years to advocating for this form of justice. She asserts, “What people don’t know about [IS] and like-minded groups is that they don’t care about being killed. But they are so scared of facing women and girls in court.” Murad adds, “And they will always come back with a different name if we don’t hold them accountable in front of the whole world.” By 2014, IS had seized control of a significant portion of northern Iraq, subjecting religious and ethnic minorities to persecution. However, they reserved a distinct form of brutality for the Yazidi population, whose faith they scorned. They massacred thousands of Yazidi men, boys exceeding 12 years of age, and older women, while capturing thousands more young women and girls to be used as sex slaves, and indoctrinating boys to serve as child soldiers. Out of tens of thousands of IS members, fewer than 20 have been found guilty of war crimes in tribunals located in Germany, Portugal, and the Netherlands. In Iraq, IS members have faced charges for terrorism-related offenses, but not for war crimes. The convictions obtained in Europe resulted from a seven-year investigation conducted by Unitad, a UN investigative body that Nadia Murad actively advocated for establishing. This body amassed millions of pieces of evidence. Nevertheless, the investigation concluded in September, following Iraq’s decision to discontinue its collaboration with the UN. The collected evidence currently resides on a server within a New York building. Murad expresses bewilderment regarding the absence of political resolve to achieve further convictions. The exact number of IS members prosecuted in Iraq remains uncertain; numerous individuals are detained on anti-terrorism charges, yet the legal process lacks transparency. Last year, Iraq’s justice minister reported that approximately 20,000 individuals charged with terrorism offenses were incarcerated, with 8,000 of them receiving death sentences, though the number of IS members among them is not specified. Murad states, “It’s devastating to survivors.” The majority of Murad’s family members were killed. Similar to Nora, she endured captivity, being sold among different individuals, and subjected to repeated rape and gang-rape. No one arrived to liberate her; she managed to escape when her captor neglected to lock the door. She proceeded on foot for several hours until she encountered a family who assisted her in being smuggled out of IS-controlled territory. She recounts, “I felt guilt for surviving while my younger nieces and friends and neighbours were still in there.” She adds, “I took my survival as a responsibility to share my story so that people could know what was really happening there, under [IS] control.” By speaking candidly, Murad challenged the shame often linked to sexual violence in Iraq. Many women she is acquainted with attempted to protect themselves from stigma by remaining silent. However, Murad persuaded relatives and friends to provide evidence to Unitad. A significant aspect of her advocacy has involved safeguarding the rights of sexual violence victims. She developed a series of guidelines, known as the “Murad Code,” designed to empower survivors to manage the information they disclose when interacting with investigators or journalists. She asserts, “Sexual violence and rape is something that stays long after the war is over. It lasts forever and lives in your body, in your mind and in your bones.” Lacking the UN’s assistance, she expresses concern regarding the Iraqi government’s approach to victims of genocide. She finds the handling of her relatives’ exhumations disheartening. Up to 200 mass graves containing individuals murdered by IS exist. Sixty-eight of these were exhumed with the backing of the UN mission, with 15 located solely in Murad’s village. This process is currently managed by the Iraqi authorities, and merely about 150 bodies out of thousands have been identified. Six of Murad’s eight brothers were killed by IS, yet only two have received a proper burial. She laments, “My mom, my nieces, my other four brothers, my cousins are all in a building in Baghdad.” She adds, “It’s very painfully slow for many of us who have been waiting for some sort of closure.” Recently, upon the identification of some victims, their next of kin learned the news via Facebook because the Iraqi authorities failed to notify them directly. Christian Ritscher, the former head of Unitad, informed the BBC that the process of identifying bodies is protracted and challenging. Despite Unitad’s considerable accomplishments, he holds the view that the investigation concluded prematurely. On the 10th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide, Murad also directs sharp criticism towards organizations such as the UN, which were established to avert such atrocities. She states, “These international bodies are failing people over and over again. Give me one example where they have succeeded at preventing war, whether it was in Iraq or Syria, Gaza and Israel, Congo or Ukraine.” She further remarks, “They were meant to protect the most vulnerable,” adding, “They have been more interested in what is best for their parties and their politics.” She expresses apprehension that the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon could expand, and that remaining elements of the Islamic State group might exploit renewed instability in the Middle East. She asserts, “You can’t just defeat an ideology like [IS] with weapons,” and continues, “We know that a lot of them are still out there and they got away with impunity.” “I feel like I had my day in court by not staying silent, by not taking the blame and the shame and stigma, I feel like I got some sort of justice,” she reflects. “But for my sisters, my nieces, my friends and my fellow survivors who have not shared their stories publicly, their pain is just so real. And it’s that trauma that I think can only go away with justice.” Each year, BBC 100 Women identifies 100 inspiring and influential women globally. Engage with BBC 100 Women on Instagram and Facebook. Participate in the discussion using #BBC100Women. Copyright 2024 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC bears no responsibility for the content found on external websites. Information regarding our external linking policy is available for review.