On July 6th 2022, under the auspices of the International Ministerial Conference 2022 to Promote Freedom of Religion or Belief, hosted by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office, the Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC) convened a High-Level Panel in Parliament, launching a major international report advancing the issue of state responsibility for the Yazidi genocide. The report includes contributions from leading practitioners and prominent politicians.
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, Chair of Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC), in a video address about the report, commented that:
“what to do with this Report? Read it – properly. Learn how the mechanisms we do have in place could have saved the Yazidis from what is now part of their past and part or their past partial destruction. Learn how the same mechanisms properly activated can save the Yazidis from suffering more of the same - or worse. But also learn how we risk ending intelligence itself in tragedies to come if we fail to ensure that our governments do what they can, and should, do to use law that is at hand to save the present tragedy from what yet may be done to peaceable, cultured, harmless, kind and generous people – the Yazidis. [….]
This Report is the result of detailed scholarship and investigative research. Its factual conclusions are those that any court will reach. Conclusions include that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that Iraq, Syria and Turkey from April 2013 onwards failed to take all means reasonably available to them to prevent the genocide of the Yazidi, in circumstances where they had the special capacity to influence the circumstances and/or possible perpetrators of the genocide. That failure is continuing to the present day.”
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The panel on July 6th, was hosted by Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, and co-sponsored by the APPG for the Prevention of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity, and the APPG for the Yazidi. Speakers included:
Baroness Helena Kennedy QC, Member of HoL, Director IBAHRI; Elif Shafak, Award-winning British-Turkish novelist, activist and commentator; Dr Leyla Ferman, CEO Women for Justice; Sir Geoffrey Nice QC, Chair, YJC; Aarif Abraham, Director, Accountability Unit; Rushanara Ali MP, Member of HoC; Prof. Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG QC Honoris Causa, Distinguished Fellow, International Law, Chatham House; Dr Tatyana Eatwell, Head of Doughty Street International, Doughty Street Chambers; Dr Ewelina Ochab, Programme Lawyer, IBAHRI; Dr Aldo Zammit Borda, Reader, International Law, City University.
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You can read or download the full report or summary by clicking on the links.