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GENEVA / IRAQ CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
STORY: GENEVA / IRAQ CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
TRT : 1:24
SOURCE: CH UNTV - OHCHR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 25 AUGUST 2014, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1.Wide shot, Spokesperson walking
2.SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson United Nations Human Rights:
“Grave human rights violations are being committed daily by ISIL and associated armed groups. These include targeted killings, forced conversions, abductions, trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse, the destruction of places of religious and cultural significance and the besieging of entire communities because of their ethnic religious or sectarian affiliation.”
3.Close up, hands
4.SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson United Nations Human Rights:
“The High Commissioner is calling for accountability on all sides, all parties to the conflict have an obligation under international law not to target civilians or civilian objects. In the case of ISIL, we have reports of a massacre in Badoush prison in Mosul, where up to 670 prisoners were reportedly killed on the basis of their sectarian affiliation because they were not Sunni. Such cold- blooded, systematic and intentional killing of civilians after singling them out for their religious affiliation may amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
5.Close up, hands
6.SOUNDBITE (English) Ravina Shamdasani, Spokesperson United Nations Human Rights:
“The High Commissioner is also calling on the international community to ensure that perpetrators of this vicious crimes do not enjoy impunity. Any individual committing or assisting in the commission of international crimes must be held accountable.”
7.Med shot, Shamdasani walking
The UN Human Rights Office has condemned the appalling, widespread and systematic human rights violations being committed in Iraq by the militant group Islamic State and its associated forces.
In a statement, the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay described the human rights violations in Iraq as horrific, noting that the group is “systematically targeting men, women and children based on their ethnic, religious or sectarian affiliation and are ruthlessly carrying out widespread ethnic and religious cleansing in the areas under their control. Such persecution would amount to crimes against humanity.”
Quoting the High Commissioner, a spokesperson for the Office, Ravina Shamdasani, said “grave human rights violations are being committed daily by ISIL and associated armed groups. These include targeted killings, forced conversions, abductions, trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse, the destruction of places of religious and cultural significance and the besieging of entire communities because of their ethnic religious or sectarian affiliation.”
The UN Human Rights Office listed various human rights violations including: targeted killings, trafficking, slavery, sexual abuse, and abductions among others systematic violations.
Hundreds of individuals, mostly Yezidi, were reported killed and up to 2,500 kidnapped at the beginning of August, the statement says.
Pillay said the displacement of Christians, Yezidis and other minority groups in Iraq is also of serious concern adding that the international community must take all necessary measures to protect members of ethnic and religious communities and to secure their return to their places of origin in safety and dignity.
The High Commissioner is also calling on the international community to ensure that perpetrators of these vicious crimes do not enjoy impunity, adding in “any individual committing or assisting in the commission of international crimes must be held accountable.”
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