Ireland strongly supports full accountability for the terrible crimes committed against the Yazidi community and other groups in Iraq.
Ireland fully supports the work of the UN Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh (UNITAD), which was established by UNSC Resolution 2379 in 2017. UNITAD supports efforts in Iraq to hold ISIS accountable by collecting, preserving, and storing evidence of acts that might amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
UNITAD are also helping to build up the capacity of the Iraqi authorities to investigate crimes committed by ISIS and prosecute those responsible. UNITAD has commenced the provision of training and support to Iraqi investigative judges in building case files for the prosecution of ISIS members for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
Ireland encourages the enactment of appropriate legislation within Iraq to help prosecute those responsible for these crimes. I welcome the recent passing by the Iraqi Parliament of the Yazidi Female Survivors Law, which represented a major step in addressing the needs of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence.
I hope to see a swift passing of legislation introduced by the Iraqi Parliament in November 2019, which would allow Iraq to prosecute acts committed by ISIS as genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes.
During UNITAD’s briefing to the Security Council in May, Ireland reiterated its unequivocal opposition to the use of the death penalty in all cases and circumstances. Under UNITAD's terms of reference, it is required to implement its mandate according to UN best practices, meaning that no evidence may be shared for criminal proceedings in which capital punishment may be imposed. There are ongoing efforts to establish arrangements for the sharing of evidence with competent Iraqi authorities in accordance with UNITAD's terms of reference, and we encourage progress in these efforts.
