Act now to prevent industrial scale human rights
violations by ISIL – UN expert calls on the Security Council
GENEVA (22 June 2015) – United Nations human rights
expert Ben Emmerson today urged the UN Security Council to take effective
action to enforce international law and protect civilians in areas under the
control of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant group (ISIL).
“The Security Council has an obligation to act,” said the
Special Rapporteur on the protection and promotion of human rights while
countering terrorism, during the presentation of his report* on the gross
violations committed by ISIL and the pressing need for accountability.
“Given the reports of genocide, all members of the
Security Council may now have a specific responsibility to take action to
prevent this most serious of international crimes,” he said. “But whether these
dreadful crimes qualify as genocide or not the time has come to recognise that
permanent members have a responsibility to refrain from using their veto powers
to block action aimed at ending atrocity crimes.”
The Special Rapporteur noted that this approach now has
the support of many States, civil society organisation and entities of the UN.
“This mandate,” he stated, “also unequivocally supports efforts to bring about
this desperately need reform.”
In his report, Mr. Emmerson describes how different
entities have found clear evidence of persecution and summary execution of
religious and ethnic minority communities on a mass scale, arbitrary execution
of community leaders, journalists, intellectuals and others, mass
disappearances, forced religious conversions and systematic torture. As many as
700 people were reportedly murdered in one such massacre.
The enforcement of summary justice in areas under ISIL
control includes public beheading, shooting, stoning, lashing and amputation.
Mutilated corpses are put on public display as a deterrent. Systematic
gender-based violence, rape and sexual slavery are a part of everyday life.
Homosexual men are routinely targeted on grounds of their sexuality.
Children have been subjected to summary execution,
arbitrary detention and torture, and forced to take part in military training.
Significant religious and cultural sites have been systematically destroyed.
“In short, those living under the terror of ISIL are in
daily fear for their lives,” the expert said. “These shocking crimes are being
committed on an industrial scale and amount to an affront to the conscience of
the entire international community.”
The Special Rapporteur noted that, so far, the UN
Security Council has only determined that ISIL represents a threat to
international peace and security and it has stressed the need to bring
perpetrators to justice. “But the Council has conspicuously failed to either
authorise military action under Chapter 7 of the Charter, or to refer the
situation in Iraq and Syria to the International Criminal Court,” he said.
“States are under an obligation to take measures to
protect civilian populations from widespread and systematic acts of violence
and terrorism,” Mr. Emmerson concluded. “It is essential that any response be
grounded in respect for international law, including international humanitarian
law, international human rights law and refugee law.”
(*) Check the Special Rapporteur’s report
(A/HRC/29/51):
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session29/Pages/ListReports.aspx
ENDS
Ben Emmerson (United Kingdom) is the Special Rapporteur
on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while
countering terrorism. On 1 August 2011, he took up his functions on the mandate
that was created in 2005 by the former United Nations Commission on Human,
renewed by the UN Human Rights Council for a three year period in December
2007, in September 2010 and again in March 2013. As Special Rapporteur he is
independent from any Government and serves in his individual capacity. Learn
more, log on to:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Terrorism/Pages/SRTerrorismIndex.aspx
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the
Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest
body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name
of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that
address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of
the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not
UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from
any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
Check the UN 2006 Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy:
http://www.un.org/terrorism/strategy-counter-terrorism.shtml
For more information and media requests please contact
Alessandro Marra (+41 22 928 9870 / amarra@ohchr.org) or write to
srct@ohchr.org.
For media inquiries related to other UN independent
experts:
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9383 / xcelaya@ohchr.org)
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