ISISThe ICC may be asked to classify IS's actions against the Yazidis as genocide

Last August, Islamic State (IS) militants seized control of villages in Sinjar, northern Iraq, home to thousands of Yazidis, a minority group who IS has attempted to wipe out due to the group’s religious beliefs. Women and children were raped and sold as slaves, and thousands of Yasidi men were shot or imprisoned. Many were given an ultimatum to convert to Islam or be executed. A few weeks ago, Kurdish forces began to push IS militants out of Sinjar and while that battle continues, a new campaign is underway to get the International Criminal Court (ICC) to classify IS’s actions as genocide. “If you look at what has happened in Sinjar, the evidence shows an act of genocide,” said Hazem Tazin Saeed, a prominent Yazidi leader. “They have been displaced, they have been killed, raped, kidnapped, and executed en masse. What more proof do you need to label this a genocide?”

Global Post reports that the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) has established a five-man committee to investigate and present a case of possible genocide. Genocide is defined as the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnical, racial, or religious group. Proving such a case against IS might seem easy enough, but doing so would require complex investigative, analytical, and legal work that Iraq may not have the resources for. “Genocide cases are very complicated,” said Hussein Hassoun, advisor to the KRG Prime Minister Nechervan Barzani and an expert in law and international relations who now heads the investigation committee. “Strict procedures for interviews and evidence gathering must be followed, but in the Middle East it is hard to find anyone with experience in investigating such a crime.”

While Hassoun’s investigative team may receive some training to aid in the case, he cannot say the same for other parties involved in securing the areas in question. He notes that as he waits for clearance to investigate parts of Sinja, where mass killings occurred, soldiers are moving through the same areas with no knowledge of how to secure a crime scene or preserve evidence. Furthermore, fighting is still occurring between IS militants and Kurdish peshmerga forces in the area. “It is frustrating to see this while our hands are tied dealing with political delays,” Hassoun said. In a recently televised news footage, a reporter at the scene of what could be a mass execution site, moved between bodies as he tampered with clothing and items belonging to the unidentified victims. The Post notes that details on the identity of the victims at the site had not been released publicly when the footage aired.

Another challenge in presenting the case to the ICC is that Iraq is not a member state, but the Iraqi government could agree to become a member state or permit the ICC to temporary investigate within Iraq.

For now, the investigation team has been compiling photo and video evidence and documenting names of the dead and missing. Eyewitness accounts could also confirm cases of rape, massacres, and enslavement against IS.

Bertrand Patenaude, a lecturer in history and international relations at Stanford University with a focus on genocide and international crimes, warns that in order to get an ICC conviction of genocide, the “intent” to commit the crime must be proven. Lesser charges of war crimes or crimes against humanity could be proven with the results of IS’s actions, he said. “Crimes against humanity are often no less horrific than acts of genocide,” Petenaude said. “But the genocide label … strikes a special chord. Although it’s arguably been overused in the past couple of decades, the term genocide still gets people to sit up and pay attention. And the attention of the international community is what the Yazidi people desperately need.”

The case for intent could be supported using one particular article published by IS. That article, released in October as part of the fourth edition of the group’s magazine, Dabiq, refers to Yazidis as an ancient “pagan minority.” “Their continual existence to this day is a matter that Muslims should question as they will be asked about it on Judgment Day,” the article read. The article continued to list what IS believed are religious reasons to kill and enslave Yazidis. Patenaude believes the content of the article could help support the case of genocide, but it could be challenging to convince the court that the magazine and its publisher are officially linked to IS leaders.

Should the ICC declare the actions in Sinjar to be genocide, the Yazidis, and the Kurdish and Iraqi governments could lobby for an international resolution, which could lead to tangible benefits to Yazidi victims, the Post notes. “If the ICC agree, you can then knock on the door of the UN and demand international protection to restore our cities,” he said.