Demanding Iraq Take Action for Christians Facing Genocide

As part of our ongoing campaign to bring an end to the ISIS genocide against Christians in Iraq and Syria, we just sent a legal letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq, Dr. Ibrahim al-Jaafari urging action for the victims of genocide.

As we informed you before, in August of this year, Dr. Al-Jaafari sent a letter to the United Nations (U.N.), asking for international assistance. In the letter he stated:

The crimes committed by the terrorist organization ISIL against civilians and its destruction of infrastructure and antiquities in Iraq are crimes against humanity. It is therefore important to bring justice in accordance with Iraqi law, the members of the terrorist gangs of ISIL who have committed such crimes.

In view of the above, we call on you to ask the international community to provide assistance, so that we can make use of international expertise in our effort to prosecute the terrorist entity ISIL. The Republic of Iraq and the United Kingdom will work together to present a draft resolution in that regard.

As a result of Dr. Al-Jaafari’s letter, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 2379, which calls for the creation of an Investigative Team headed by a special adviser for the purpose of “collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the terrorist group ISIL (Da’esh) in Iraq.”

As we explained before, we also wrote to the U.N.’s Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide outlining key ways the international community could take action. “the Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide then shared this information with the appropriate officials in Iraq that led to Iraq’s eventual request to the U.N. Security Council.”

Following up on this key step forward, our letter to Dr. Al-Jaafari asked that he work with the appointed Special Adviser and assist the U.N. Investigative Team in any way possible.

Your Excellency, you play a key role in providing relief and resettlement for the victims of genocide. We, therefore, respectfully and solemnly urge you, as Minister of Foreign Affairs in Iraq, and as you indicated your desire to do in your letter to the U.N., to work with the appointed Special Adviser and to make available all resources possible to aid in the thorough collection of evidence. We urge you to vocalise your support for Iraq to accept the jurisdiction of and prosecutorial investigation by an appropriate international tribunal in the limited context of the Islamic State genocide and other atrocities against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious and ethnic minorities.

Join us in our fight as we continue to advocate on behalf of the thousands of Christians facing genocide at the hands of ISIS. We will continue to fight to bring justice and relief to those who so desperately need it the most.