UNITAD-NGO Dialogue Forum on Victim Participation in Justice Process

Christian Ritscher, Special Adviser and Head of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (UNITAD), speaks during the UNITAD - NGO Dialogue Forum's fifth biannual plenary discussion on victim participation in the justice process.

The Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL (UNITAD) was established in February 2018. Between 2014 and 2017, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) (Da'esh) captured, controlled and operated with impunity over large parts of territory in Iraq, committing crimes against civilians and communities in these areas. The subsequent liberation of this territory exposed the magnitude of these crimes, including torture, amputations, enslavement, rape, and mass killings, all of which were authorized, promoted, and celebrated by the group. In August 2017, the Government of Iraq called on the international community to provide assistance in ensuring that members of ISIL (Da'esh) were held accountable for their crimes in Iraq. In response, the Investigative Team, UNITAD, was established, mandated to support domestic efforts to hold ISIL (Da'esh) accountable by collecting, preserving and storing evidence of its crimes in Iraq that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The Investigative Team concluded its mandate on 17 September 2024.