Testimony before the UN Human Rights Council, delivered by UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer, in debate on report of the UN special rapporteur on racism and discrimination, June 28, 2016.
Mr. Rapporteur, Thank you for your report on xenophobia, which mentions genocide, in paragraphs 29 and 38; the Middle East in paragraphs 57 to 61; and Islamophobia in paragraphs 33, 34, 51, 56, and 63.
Now last week, experts of this council found that the Islamic State is committing genocide, against the Yazidis. Mr. Rapporteur, given that genocide is the ultimate manifestation of racism, is there a reason why the genocide of Yazidis—the only ongoing genocide recognized by this council—was not mentioned anywhere in your report?
I call your attention to the elaborate ideology behind the killings practiced by ISIS. This was brought to light last August in a major New York Times investigative report entitled “ISIS Enshrines a Theology of Rape; Claiming the Quran’s support, the Islamic State codifies sex slavery in conquered regions of Iraq and Syria and uses the practice as a recruiting tool.”
The newspaper interviewed 21 women and girls who escaped the Islamic State, and examined its official communications. It found that the systematic rape of women and girls from Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority has become deeply enmeshed in the organization and radical theology of the Islamic State, one year after the group announced it was reviving slavery as an institution.
The article shows how an Islamic State fighter, in the moments before he raped a 12-year-old girl, took the time to explain that what he was about to do was not a sin. He insisted that because the girl practiced a religion other than Islam, the Quran, in his view, not only gave him the right to rape her — it condoned and encouraged it.
Mr. Raporteur, would you consider examining how this genocidal theology developed, and where it came from? Are there UN member states who bear at least partial responsibility, through their funding of fundamentalist religious and educational institutions?
Mr. Rapporteur, over the past 15 years, as we’ve been discussing racism and discrimination under the Durban Declaration, why was this global scourge, killing innocents from Iraq to Nigeria, Orlando to Paris, never part of the official narrative?
Why, on the contrary, were the few human rights activists, journalists, and intellectuals, who tried to sound the alarm, accused of racism and Islamophobia?
Do you believe we at the UN help create a global culture that made this discussion taboo? Did the Durban process fail Yazidis, Christians, and Shia Muslims now facing genocide?
I thank you.

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• UN Watch hosts UN testimony of Yazidi Member of Iraqi Parliament
• UN Watch gives Geneva Summit Courage Award to Yazidi MP Vian Dakhil
• UN Watch urges UNHRC action to stop Yazidi genocide
• UN Watch leads UN rally and campaign to stop Yazidi killings in 2014
• UN Watch publishes Urgent Appeal from Yazidi leadership, August 2014

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Source: United Nations Office of the High Commission of Human Rights

UN COMMISSION OF INQUIRY ON SYRIA: ISIS IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE AGAINST THE YAZIDIS

GENEVA  (Issued as received)– The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) is committing genocide against Yazidis, according to a report, “They Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis”, issued today by the independent international Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic. The report by the Commission of Inquiry also determined that ISIS’s abuse of Yazidis amounts to crimes against humanity and war crimes.
“Genocide has occurred and is ongoing”, emphasised Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the Commission. “ISIS has subjected every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities.”
As per the Commission’s mandate, the report focuses on violations committed against Yazidis inside Syria, where thousands of women and girls are still being held captive and abused, often as slaves. The Commission also examines how the terrorist group forcibly transferred Yazidis into Syria after launching its attacks on northern Iraq’s Sinjar region on 3 August 2014. Collected information documents evidence of intent and criminal liability of ISIS’s military commanders, fighters, religious and ideological leaders, wherever they are located.
The Commission’s findings are based on interviews with survivors, religious leaders, smugglers, activists, lawyers, medical personnel, and journalists, as well as extensive documentary material, which corroborate information gathered by the Commission.
ISIS sought – and continues to seek – to destroy the Yazidis in multiple ways, as envisaged by the 1948 Genocide Convention. “ISIS has sought to erase the Yazidis through killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer causing serious bodily and mental harm; the infliction of conditions of life that bring about a slow death; the imposition of measures to prevent Yazidi children from being born, including forced conversion of adults, the separation of Yazidi men and women, and mental trauma; and the transfer of Yazidi children from their own families and placing them with ISIS fighters, thereby cutting them off from beliefs and practices of their own religious community”, the report says.
ISIS separated Yazidi men and boys over 12 from the rest of their families, and killed those who refused to convert, in order to destroy their identity as Yazidis. Women and children often witnessed these killings before being forcibly transferred to locations in Iraq, and thereafter to Syria, where the majority of captives remain.
Thousands of women and girls, some as young as nine, have been sold in slave markets, or souk sabaya, in the Syrian governorates of Raqqah, Aleppo, Homs, Hasakah and Dayr Az-Zawr. ISIS and its fighters hold them both in sexual slavery and in slavery, the report says, with Yazidi women and girls being constantly sold, gifted and willed between fighters. One woman, who estimated she had been sold 15 times, told the Commission, “It is hard to remember all those who bought me”.
“Survivors who escaped from ISIS captivity in Syria describe how they endured brutal rapes, often on a daily basis, and were punished if they tried to escape with severe beatings, and sometimes gang rapes,”, said Commissioner Vitit Muntarbhorn.
Treated as chattel, many Yazidi women and girls are forced to perform household tasks, and are denied adequate food and water by their fighter-owners. The Commission also heard accounts of how some Yazidi women and girls committed suicide to escape the cruel torment.
Young children bought and held with their mothers are beaten by their ISIS-owners, and subjected to the same poor living conditions as their mothers, the report states. They are often aware of the abuse that their mothers are suffering. Yazidi boys older than seven are forcibly removed from their mothers’ care and transferred into ISIS camps in Syria where they are indoctrinated and receive military training. One boy, taken for training in Syria, was told by his ISIS commander, “even if you see your father, if he is still Yazidi, you must kill him”.
“ISIS has made no secret of its intent to destroy the Yazidis of Sinjar, and that is one of the elements that allowed us to conclude their actions amount to genocide”, said Commissioner Carla Del Ponte.
The report noted that ISIS, which considers the Yazidis to be infidels, has publicly cited the Yazidis’ faith as the basis for the attack of 3 August 2014 and its subsequent abuse of them. ISIS has referred to the Yazidi as a “pagan minority [whose] existence […] Muslims should question”, adding that “their women could be enslaved […] as spoils of war”.
Mr. Pinheiro stressed that there must be no impunity for crimes of this nature, recalling States’ obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent and to punish genocide. The Commission repeated its call for the Security Council to refer urgently the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, or to establish an ad hoc tribunal to prosecute the myriad of violations of international law committed during the non-international armed conflict.
The Commission further noted that, with no path to international criminal justice available, it is likely that the first such prosecution of ISIS crimes against the Yazidis will take place in a domestic jurisdiction. It is essential, the Commission stated, that States enact laws against genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Commission urged international recognition of the genocide, and stated that more must be done to assure the protection of this religious minority in the Middle East, and the funding of care, including psycho-social and financial support, for victims of this genocide.

Background
The Commission, which comprises Mr. Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro (Chair), Ms. Karen Koning AbuZayd, Ms. Carla Del Ponte, and Mr. Vitit Muntarbhorn, has been mandated by the United Nations Human Rights Council to investigate and record all violations of international law March 2011 in the Syrian Arab Republic.

The full report can be found on the Human Rights Council web page dedicated to the commission of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic:https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/IICISyria/Pages/IndependentInternationalCommission.aspx
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For further media information:
(Geneva) Rolando Gómez, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), Tel: +41-22-917.9711, email: rgomez@ohchr.org, or Cédric Sapey, OHCHR, Tel: +41-22-917.9695, email:csapey@ohchr.org

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GENEVA, April 3, 2016 – UN Watch sent the following letter today to UN chief Ban Ki-moon.  Click for PDF

Dear Mr. Secretary-General,

UN Watch is alarmed to see that no less than three United Nations agencies are funding a Palestinian organization which glorifies the terrorist Baha Alyan who shot and stabbed Richard Lakin, the 78-year-old American-Israeli peace activist whom you yourself visited in his hospital bed in October, and who later died from his wounds.

According to Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, “Dozens of female activists and mothers took part in a chain of readers to commemorate Martyr Baha Alyan […] in the presence of the Martyr’s parents. The activity was held in Ibn Rashed square in the center of Hebron, by the Rural Women’s Development Society…” (Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 22, 2016, as translated by Palestinian Media Watch.)

The organizer of this sickening commemoration of a murderer, the “Rural Women’s Development Society,” acknowledges on its website that its funders include three UN agencies: UNDP, the United Nations Population Fund and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

We urge you to condemn the UN funding of this terrorism-supporting organization, and to take immediate action to end it.

Sincerely,

Hillel Neuer
Executive Director
UN Watch

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Delivered by Sarah Reibman

Thank you, Mr. President,
UN Watch is deeply concerned by the human rights abuses committed by Boko Haram and the Islamic State throughout West Africa and the Middle East, as documented by two reports before us.
Boko Haram, an Islamic extremist terrorist group is most known for kidnapping schoolgirls, of whom many have never been found. In addition, they enlist young girls, whom they radicalize, in order to commit suicidal terrorist attacks. For example, in August of this year one 14 year-old girl killed herself and 5 others, wounding 41 in a crowded bus station in Damaturu, Nigeria. In Yobe State, Nigeria, June of this year, a 12-year-old girl killed 10 people in an open market. Other suicide attacks have taken place in mosques and colleges.
Boko Haram has further aligned itself with the mission and ideology of the Islamic State. In Iraq, “honor” remains a permissible defence for violence against women allowing fatalities of many hundreds of women by “honor killings” every year. ISIS has imposed strict regulations on women wherein they must be fully covered and accompanied by a man in public, yet girls and women are still targeted for sexual violence and sexual slavery.
Girls younger than 15 and 16 are taken from their home and separated from their sisters and mothers before they are raped and sold as wives, naked, in open air markets, reminiscent of the darkest ages of humanity. Many of these girls come from the Yazidi and Christian minorities, which require the urgent protection of the international community.
We urge the Human Rights Council to condemn these horrific atrocities and to protect the innocent victims of Boko Haram and ISIS, many of whom are now knocking on Europe’s door for protection. These abuses against women and girls shock the conscience of humankind. It is unacceptable that they are so prevalent in our world today.
Thank you Mr. President.

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• Several delegations spoke of “asymmetric warfare”
• The Coordination Committee of Special Procedures raised the issue of children being used as human shields by Boko Haram
• Many states spoke against passing on arms to terrorist groups

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Cameroon, Pierre Moukoko Mbonjo, made the following frank remark:
“We call for understanding from our friends in the Human Rights Council. A proportionate response to the attacks can only be made to the degree that the army has the capacity to assess the scope of the attack. That is not our case. We don’t have the technological and satellite instruments to see how Boko Haram will attack us. They always take us by surprise and we have to react.”
All these points are interesting especially when one compares them to the prevailing discourse during the discussion of the Council’s pet issue, that is the Israel-Arab conflict, and the tactics of terrorist groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

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UN Watch Statement

23^rd Special Session, UN Human Rights Council

 
Thank you, Mr. President.
UN Watch welcomes today’s meeting. Yet given that it has been more than five years now since Boko Haram has been on the rampage, killing thousands of innocent men, women, and children, we must ask: Why has the UN waited so long?
On Christmas Eve 2010, when Boko Haram killed 32 people in bomb blasts targeting churches in the central Plateau state, and when it did the same on Christmas Day in 2011, killing dozens of people outside Abuja and other cities, why was this Council silent?
When two months later, Boko Haram attacked the UN headquarters in Abuja, killing 23 people, and then released a video describing the UN as a “forum of all the global evil,” and praising Osama Bin Laden, why was this Council silent?
When in July 2012, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a mosque in Borno, apparently to target a moderate Muslim leader, and five worshippers were killed, why was this Council silent?
Mr. President, last year the world heard the cries of the victims of Boko Haram when the group abducted more than 200 school girls. Their plight was made famous when the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, posted the Twitter hashtag “Bring Back Our Girls.”
Yet when an attempt was made here during the June 2014 session to condemn this kidnapping, the Council refused to give its support, and the text had to be withdrawn.
Mr. President, last month at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, UN Watch and 20 other NGOs hosted one of the Nigerian girls who managed to escape the kidnappers.
She said: “I want my friends and colleagues to come back, who are still in captivity for almost a year now. I want help from the United Nations to bring back the girls so they can continue their studies and be back with their families.”
We ask: When will the UN take action for the innocent victims of Boko Haram?
Thank you, Mr. President.

The post UN Watch statement on today's urgent session on Boko Haram appeared first on UN Watch.

23^rd Special Session, UN Human Rights Council

April 1, 2015

 
Thank you, Mr. President.
UN Watch welcomes today’s meeting. Yet given that it has been more than five years now since Boko Haram has been on the rampage, killing thousands of innocent men, women, and children, we must ask: Why has the UN waited so long?
On Christmas Eve 2010, when Boko Haram killed 32 people in bomb blasts targeting churches in the central Plateau state, and when it did the same on Christmas Day in 2011, killing dozens of people outside Abuja and other cities, why was this Council silent?
When two months later, Boko Haram attacked the UN headquarters in Abuja, killing 23 people, and then released a video describing the UN as a “forum of all the global evil,” and praising Osama Bin Laden, why was this Council silent?
When in July 2012, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a mosque in Borno, apparently to target a moderate Muslim leader, and five worshippers were killed, why was this Council silent?
Mr. President, last year the world heard the cries of the victims of Boko Haram when the group abducted more than 200 school girls. Their plight was made famous when the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, posted the Twitter hashtag “Bring Back Our Girls.”
Yet when an attempt was made here during the June 2014 session to condemn this kidnapping, the Council refused to give its support, and the text had to be withdrawn.
Mr. President, last month at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, UN Watch and 20 other NGOs hosted one of the Nigerian girls who managed to escape the kidnappers.
She said: “I want my friends and colleagues to come back, who are still in captivity for almost a year now. I want help from the United Nations to bring back the girls so they can continue their studies and be back with their families.”
We ask: When will the UN take action for the innocent victims of Boko Haram?
Thank you, Mr. President.

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UN Press Release

HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL TO HOLD SPECIAL SESSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS, ABUSES AND VIOLATIONS COMMITTED BY BOKO HARAM
The Human Rights Council will hold its twenty-third special session on Wednesday, 1 April 2015, “in light of the terrorist attacks and human rights abuses and violations committed by the terrorist group Boko Haram”.
The special session will start at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, 1 April in Room XX at the Palais des Nations. The meeting will be webcast live at webtv.un.org.
The President of the Human Rights Council received a letter on 26 March by the Permanent Mission of Algeria, on behalf of the African Group in Geneva, containing the request to convene the special session.
In order for a special session to be convened, the support of one-third of the Council – 16 or more – is required. This request was thus far supported by the following States Members of the Council (20): Algeria, Botswana, Brazil, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russian Federation, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Venezuela.
The request was also supported by the following observer States (four): Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Djibouti and Mozambique. The list of signatories remains open up to the holding of the special session.
In connection with the special session, the Human Rights Council will hold an organisational meeting on Monday, 30 March, at 3 p.m. in Room XX. This meeting is also open to the media.

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Letter by UNHRC President to Ben Emmerson, QC | PDF Version 
6 March 2015
Dear Mr. Emmerson,
I would like to thank you for your letter dated 3 March 2015, informing me that you are not able to submit your report and hold the interactive dialogue during the ongoing session and asking for a postponement to the 29th session in June 2015.
I regret that you have not been able to send this request earlier, when the current annual work programme or the draft programme for this session were considered, keeping also in mind that reports to be considered at the 28th session were expected to be submitted to conference services in December 2014.
As President of the Human Rights Council, I must urge you to honor your reporting obligations to the Council in order to allow for the implementation of the annual calendar of thematic resolutions, to strengthen transparency and predictability, as well as to ensure that there is no protection gap.
With regard to the June session (15 June – 3 July), I would strongly encourage you to submit the report in accordance with the prescribed deadlines to allow first sufficient time for the report to be made available in all UN languages and second to ensure a meaningful dialogue with delegations and civil society.
The Secretariat will inform you of the date and time of your interactive dialogue in due course.
For transparency reasons, I will upload our correspondence on the Extranet.
Joachim Ruecker
President of the Human Rights Council

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