At a rally on Saturday 6th September, I spoke about the growing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East. There does appear to have been some progress to address the emerging situation at a meeting of the United
Nations Human Rights Council on 1st September. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights was requested to urgently dispatch a mission to Iraq.
An investigation will be carried out in to alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law committed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and the Levant and associated terrorist groups, and to establish the facts and circumstances of such abuses and violations, with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full accountability. A report on the mission's findings will be put to the Human Rights Council during its twenty-eighth session, and also the High Commissioner will provide an oral update during the twenty-seventh session of the Council at the end of September.
In addition, Amnesty International has reported that members of the armed group calling itself the IS have launched a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Iraq, carrying out war crimes, including mass summary killings and abductions, against ethnic and religious minorities. A new briefing, published on 2nd September presents a series of hair-raising details from survivors who describe how men and boys in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq were rounded up by IS fighters, bundled into pick-up trucks and taken to village outskirts to be massacred in groups or shot individually. These mass killings and abductions have succeeded in terrorizing communities in northern Iraq leading thousands to flee in fear for their lives. The fate of most of the hundreds of Yezidis abducted and held captive by the IS remains unknown. Many of those held by IS have been threatened with rape or sexual assault or pressured to convert to Islam. In some cases entire families have been abducted.
The people of northern Iraq deserve to live free from persecution and without fearing for their lives. There is an urgent need to support humanitarian charities that reach out to refugees, orphans and displaced persons. The Scottish and British governments can be encouraged to step up their support for those affected by the crises in Iraq and Syria by increasing humanitarian aid to the affected areas and by opening its door to refugees. The UK Government is called upon to reject any option of military intervention in the Middle East.
Useful link:
UN Human Rights Council - http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/HRCIndex.aspx
Amnesty International: Northern Iraq
- http://amnesty.org/en/news/gruesome-evidence-ethnic-cleansing-northern-iraq-islamic-state-moves-wipe-out-minorities-2014-0
An investigation will be carried out in to alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law committed by the so-called Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and the Levant and associated terrorist groups, and to establish the facts and circumstances of such abuses and violations, with a view to avoiding impunity and ensuring full accountability. A report on the mission's findings will be put to the Human Rights Council during its twenty-eighth session, and also the High Commissioner will provide an oral update during the twenty-seventh session of the Council at the end of September.
In addition, Amnesty International has reported that members of the armed group calling itself the IS have launched a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Iraq, carrying out war crimes, including mass summary killings and abductions, against ethnic and religious minorities. A new briefing, published on 2nd September presents a series of hair-raising details from survivors who describe how men and boys in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq were rounded up by IS fighters, bundled into pick-up trucks and taken to village outskirts to be massacred in groups or shot individually. These mass killings and abductions have succeeded in terrorizing communities in northern Iraq leading thousands to flee in fear for their lives. The fate of most of the hundreds of Yezidis abducted and held captive by the IS remains unknown. Many of those held by IS have been threatened with rape or sexual assault or pressured to convert to Islam. In some cases entire families have been abducted.
The people of northern Iraq deserve to live free from persecution and without fearing for their lives. There is an urgent need to support humanitarian charities that reach out to refugees, orphans and displaced persons. The Scottish and British governments can be encouraged to step up their support for those affected by the crises in Iraq and Syria by increasing humanitarian aid to the affected areas and by opening its door to refugees. The UK Government is called upon to reject any option of military intervention in the Middle East.
Useful link:
UN Human Rights Council - http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/Pages/HRCIndex.aspx
Amnesty International: Northern Iraq
- http://amnesty.org/en/news/gruesome-evidence-ethnic-cleansing-northern-iraq-islamic-state-moves-wipe-out-minorities-2014-0
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