The Yazidi Justice Committee has been investigating the genocide committed by ISIS against the Yazidis and the responsibility of certain states for the crime for over two years. The report will be presented in London at the beginning of July.
The Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC), founded in early 2020, has been investigating since March 2020 allegations of genocide committed against the Yazidis from early 2013 by the armed group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), in the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria) and the Republic of Iraq (Iraq).
The Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC) was formed in early 2020 as an ad hoc body of the following organisations: Accountability Unit; Women for Justice; International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI); Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales; and Geoffrey Nice Foundation.
YJC’s primary objective was to determine whether the alleged violations of international law relating to genocide can be brought before a court of law in order that States who may be legally responsible for the commission of, or failure to prevent, the possible genocide of the Yazidis, are held accountable in addition to individual perpetrators.
In fulfilling its objective, YJC has been assessing evidence of whether any States have failed to comply with their obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) with respect to the alleged genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq and Syria. This evidence relates to a number of States Parties to the Genocide Convention who do not maintain any ‘reservations’ to the Convention.
It is YJC’s view that for the Genocide Convention to have any meaning at all, holding States legally accountable for their failure to uphold their obligations is the only way to enforce the obligations to prevent and punish genocide under Article I of the Genocide Convention.
On 6 July 2022, YJC will publish the findings and conclusions of its two-year long investigation in a report entitled “State Responsibility and the Genocide of the Yazidis”. The Report will be published at a side event to the International Ministerial Conference on Freedom of Religion and Belief hosted by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office between 5-6 July in London.
In the forthcoming Report, YJC based its findings on publicly available reports, findings and decisions extensively documented by independent investigative efforts conducted under the auspices of the United Nations and corroborated by reputable international human rights organisations and other credible sources. The Report utilises all publicly available evidence to substantiate its analysis, identifying relevant methodology behind the evidence sources, to make factual and legal findings. The Report’s preliminary findings are likely to be further, and possibly significantly, substantiated by large repositories of evidence held privately and confidentially by States and international organisations such as organs of the United Nations.
The YJC’s Research Committee have been meticulously assessing whether the crimes committed against the Yazidis, predominantly by ISIS, could constitute genocide and if so, whether certain States are or were, on the facts, responsible for failing to discharge their obligations under the Genocide Convention to prohibit, prevent and prosecute the crime.
The publication of the Report will take place at 14:00-16:00 UK in the House of Lords and a live stream (Zoom) will be available. The launch of the Report is co-sponsored by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity and the APPG on the Yazidis.
