Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoUN / ISIL ATROCITIES
Download
There is no media available to download.
Share
STORY: UN / ISIL ATROCITIES
TRT: 03:23
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ARABIC / ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 09 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY
FILE - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
09 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, meeting room
3. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Nadia Murad, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking:
“I feel deeply disappointed that my words, my tears, and my testament will not make you move against Da’esh (ISIL) and I ask myself whether there is even a point in continuing my campaign at all.”
4. Wide shot, Nadia Murad
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Murad, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking:
“I cannot understand why it is taking so long. I cannot understand why you are letting ISIS get away with it or what more you need to hear before you will act.”
6. Wide shot, Amal Clooney
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Amal Clooney, Legal Representative for Nadia Murad and other Yazidi survivors:
“The UN was created as the world’s way of saying never again to the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis, and yet here we are 70 years later discussing the UN’s inaction in the face of a genocide that we all know about and that is ongoing.”
8. Wide shot, delegates at meeting
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Amal Clooney, Legal Representative for Nadia Murad and other Yazidi survivors:
“If we do not change course, history will judge us and there will be no excuse for our failure to act. We cannot say that ISIS’s crimes were not serious enough; we cannot say that the interests of power States stood in the way; or that these crimes are too hard to prove. That’s why I’m asking you today to stand up to justice.”
10. Wide shot, Amal Clooney
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Amal Clooney, Legal Representative for Nadia Murad and other Yazidi survivors:
“On behalf of all ISIS’s victims I call on you to send the letter to the Security Council requesting an investigation into ISIS’s crimes. Getting the UN involved was initially Iraq’s idea and finally taking action to make this a reality would silence those who doubt your commitment to bring Da’esh to justice.”
12. Wide shot, meeting room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Amal Clooney, Legal Representative for Nadia Murad and other Yazidi survivors:
“If this road to accountability through the Security Council is blocked, you must take the initiative to secure accountability in other ways available to you under the UN Charter. Don’t let this be another Rwanda where you regret doing too little too late. Don’t let ISIS get away with genocide.”
14. Wide shot, meeting room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Zainab Bangura, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict:
“In order to move quickly, Iraqi authorities have stressed the need for international support to help construct a judicial process for Da’esh crimes in Iraq. The entire United Nations system, and not simply my small office, has to respond to this request. There also must be resources made available by Member States to do this. We cannot call for accountability for Da’esh without supporting the Iraqi Government to insure that it has the capacity and the expertise it requires for such a significant undertaking.”
16. Wide shot, Clooney speaking to Iraqi ambassador after meeting
Yazidi genocide survivor Nadia Murad asked “what more” the international community needed to hear “before you will act” and bring ISIL to justice for its crimes. She called on the Iraqi Government and the United Nations to establish an investigation and give all the victims of ISIL the justice they deserve.
Speaking today (09 Mar) at a high-level event on bring Da’esh (ISIL) to justice, Murad said she was physically and mentally tired adding that she put her family in danger every time she spoke. She expressed her disappointment that her words would not make the international community move and wondered if there was “even a point” in continuing her campaign against the terrorist group. Murad said Yazidi children were being brainwashed by Da’esh to carry out suicide missions and many more would fall victim to this practice unless they were saved. She said she was told that the UN was waiting for a letter by the Iraqi government to launch an investigation into ISIL’s atrocities and victims had patiently waited two years for justice.
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney said all the officials she spoke to over the past few months have supported the idea of a UN investigation established by the Security Council with Iraqi cooperation. She said a draft resolution to do just that was presented to Iraq and would require a one page letter from the Government to put the draft to the vote; but this has not happened so far. Clooney said mass graves were unprotected and exhumed, witnesses were fleeing, and not one ISIL militant faced trial for international crimes anywhere in the world. She stressed that the UN was created “as the world’s way of saying never again to the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis, and yet here we are 70 years later discussing the UN’s inaction in the face of a genocide that we all know about and that is ongoing.”
Clooney reiterated her call on the international community to change course on bringing ISIL to justice, adding that “history will judge us and there will be no excuse for our failure to act.” She said conflicts throughout the world have proven that there could be no lasting peace without justice and killing ISIL on the battle field was not enough. She said the international community must kill the idea of ISIL by exposing the group’s brutality and bringing individuals to justice.
Clooney called on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi to send the letter to the Security Council requesting an investigation into ISIL’s crimes. She said taking action in this direction would “silence those who doubt” his commitment to bring ISIL to justice. The human rights lawyer said if this road to accountability through the Security Council was blocked, UN Member States “must take the initiative to secure accountability” in other ways available to them under the UN Charter. She called on them not to “let this be another Rwanda where you regret doing too little too late.”
UN special representative on sexual violence in conflict Zainab Bangura said Iraqi Government officials expressed to her during a recent visit to the country that justice for the victims of ISIL was an “exceptionally high priority” for them. She said Iraqi authorities stressed the need for international support to help construct a judicial process for ISIL’s crimes adding that the entire United Nations system “has to respond to this request.” She stressed that the international community could not “call for accountability for Da’esh without supporting the Iraqi Government to insure that it has the capacity and the expertise it requires for such a significant undertaking.”
