Daesh still slaughtering Izadis in Iraq, Syria: UN panel
A United Nations investigative panel has urged action against crimes committed by the Daesh terrorist group against the Izadi minority in Iraq and Syria, stressing that the Takfiri militants are still committing genocide against the Kurdish-speaking community.
Paulo Pinheiro, head of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria, issued the warning in a Thursday report, which was based on interviews with dozens of survivors.
Daesh has been systematically capturing Izadis in Iraq and Syria since August 2014 in an attempt to “erase” the minority group “through killings, sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forceful transfer,” which have all inflicted “serious bodily and mental harm" on the people, Pinheiro told a news briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva.
"Genocide has occurred and is ongoing," the UN official said, adding, "ISIS (Daesh) has subjected every Yazidi (Izadi) woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities.”
The 41-page report, titled "They came to destroy: ISIS (Daesh) Crimes against the Yazidis (Izadis),” called for much “more assertive action at the political level, including at the Security Council" against the group’s crime of genocide.
In August 2014, Daesh terrorists overran the Iraqi town of Sinjar and systematically massacred, captured and enslaved thousands of Iazidis.
Over the past few months, several mass graves containing bodies of people, including members of the Izadi minority group, have been uncovered in Iraq and Syria.
Elsewhere, the report said Daesh was holding Izadis in conditions "that bring about a slow death," selling women at slave markets, raping girls as young as nine, and drafting boys to fight for the terrorist group.
It further estimated that some 3,200 Izadi women and children are currently being held by Daesh, mainly in war-torn Syria.
The Izadis, who are mostly based around the Sinjar Mountains in northern Iraq, are a religious sect whose beliefs combine elements of several ancient Middle Eastern religions.
Daesh militants have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, such as public decapitations and crucifixions, against all communities, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians, in areas under their control in Iraq and Syria.
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