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Highest German court confirms sentence in the first trial ever against an ISIS member for crimes against Yazidi victims 5 April 2024 Press statement by victim’s counsel Amal Clooney, Natalie von Wistinghausen and the NGO Yazda Last month, the German Federal Court of Justice confirmed a German ISIS member’s 14-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity, war crimes and membership in a foreign terrorist organization. The now 32-year-old ‘Jennifer W’ travelled to Syria in 2014 to join ISIS. Together with her then-husband – Iraqi national Taha A.-J. – she held a Yazidi woman and her 5-year-old daughter Reda as slaves in their home in Fallujah, Iraq, as part of ISIS’ brutal genocidal campaign against the Yazidis. The Yazidi captives were deprived of sufficient food, forced to follow Islamic rules, and subjected to almost daily beatings. The Yazidi girl ultimately died after the defendant’s husband tied her with a cable to the bars of the outside window and left her hanging there in the scorching heat of up to about 50 degrees Celsius. Although Jennifer W. could have intervened, she did nothing to save her life. Instead, the girl's mother was forced to watch her daughter die a slow death while she was held just metres away inside the house. After the NGO Yazda identified and interviewed the mother, Jennifer W. was put on trial in Germany, with the mother as the key witness. She was represented by a legal team consisting of German lawyers Natalie von Wistinghausen and Wolfgang Bendler and UK barrister Amal Clooney. Jennifer W. was sentenced to a prison term of 14 years in August 2023. Last month, the defendant’s appeal against the sentence was rejected as ‘manifestly unfounded’ and the sentencing decision is now final. Commenting on the final decision, Amal Clooney said: ‘The trial against Jennifer W. was the first trial anywhere in the world against an ISIS member for crimes against humanity and the first trial charging ISIS with crimes against Yazidis. This landmark case was made possible by the courage and determination of my client. Thanks to other Yazidi survivors who have also come forward, we have now seen 7 other ISIS members convicted of war crimes against Yazidis in German courts. These milestones are important. But 40,000 people from more than 80 countries joined ISIS, and there are thousands of victims of genocide still waiting for their day in court. It is time for an international court that can deliver this’. Natalie von Wistinghausen, who represented the victim during the court hearings in Munich together with Wolfgang Bendler added that: ‘Nearly 10 years after her daughter’s death and after having herself terribly suffered in the accused’ and her husband’s household in Fallujah, justice is now finally achieved for our client. She can turn the page and focus on her life with her son, the only immediate family member who survived ISIS’ genocidal campaign against the Yazidis. Accountability is only one avenue on the way to some peace, but it is an important one’. Natia Navrouzov, Executive Director at Yazda, which is also represented by Amal Clooney, commented: ‘It took almost five years for this process to come to an end and we are satisfied with its outcome. This first trial worldwide of an ISIS member for crimes against Yazidis is historical and has a strong symbolic importance for the community. However, as we approach this year the 10 th commemoration of ISIS attacks on Yazidis and other groups, we are very concerned to see that the sole justice avenue available for ISIS survivors are national proceedings which depend on the hard work and readiness of a small group of survivors, NGO workers, lawyers, investigators and prosecutors. Ten years later, there is still no holistic and global response to the crimes of one of the most violent terrorist groups in modern history; worse, the only hope for meaningful justice represented by the evidence collection efforts funded by the international community itself through an UN investigative mechanism (UNITAD) is now quietly being dissolved, with no real perspective of what is next and what will happen to the evidence’. Yazidi Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad, who is herself a survivor of enslavement and torture at the hands of ISIS, commented: ‘Each conviction of an ISIS member offers a renewed sense of hope to survivors of ISIS atrocities, signalling that justice is possible. As we mark the 10th anniversary of the Yazidi genocide, I urge the international community and UN member states to establish an international tribunal capable of conducting trials on a larger scale’. Background In June 2018, the defendant was arrested when she was back in Germany but attempting to leave the country to return to Syria. She was intercepted by an undercover agent working for the German federal police who recorded her discussing the death of her ‘sabiya’ (a term used by ISIS to refer to Yazidi ‘slaves’). But it was not until Reda’s mother was identified and located in Iraq by the NGO Yazda that prosecutors had their key witness. Yazda has collected thousands of testimonies from Yazidi survivors to document ISIS’ crimes and had interviewed her two years prior to the start of the trial. She confirmed the death of her daughter in the hands of the ISIS couple and participated in the proceedings against Jennifer W. and the separate trial against her ex-husband Taha A.-J. as a co-plaintiff and the key witness at trial. In October 2021, the Higher Regional Court of Munich sentenced Jennifer W. to 10 years in prison. Following the Federal Public Prosecutor's appeal, the defendant’s sentence was overturned in March 2023 on the grounds that the lower instance court erred in qualifying the enslavement resulting in death as a ‘less serious case’ of crimes against humanity – a legal qualification that had resulted in a reduced sentence. Moreover, the appeal court found that the lower instance court had not taken into account the aggravating circumstances, including the ‘inhuman motives and goals’ of the defendant who by enslaving Reda and her mother ‘deliberately furthered ISIS’ policy, which aimed to destroy the Yazidi religion and the enslavement of the Yazidi people’. Similarly, the fact that after Reda’s death, Jennifer W. held a gun to the grieving mother and threatened to shoot her if she did not stop crying needed to be considered as an aggravating factor. The case was referred back to the lower instance court which sentenced Jennifer W. to an extended 14-year term. This is the sentence that has now been confirmed, without the possibility of further appeal. Note to editors: From August 2014, the Yazidi community in Iraq and Syria was targeted by ISIS through a campaign of executions, enslavement, sexual violence, and forced recruitment of child soldiers, as well as the forced displacement of an estimated 400,000 Yazidis from their homeland in Iraq. Nealy 10 years after ISIS’ attack, thousands of Yazidi women and children who were abducted and enslaved by ISIS remain missing. These crimes have been recognized by the United Nations, national and international bodies and, more recently, German courts as amounting to genocide. German courts have convicted three ISIS members of genocide for their crimes against the Yazidis. The judgment issued by the Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt in November 2021 (and confirmed by the German Federal Court of Justice) against Jennifer W.’s ex-husband, Iraqi national Taha A.-J., represents the first conviction of an ISIS member for genocide anywhere in the world. A second genocide conviction followed in July 2022 against German ISIS returnee Jalda A. and a third conviction was issued against German ISIS returnee Nadine K. in June 2023. Additionally, five ISIS members have been convicted of crimes against humanity and war crimes for their involvement in ISIS’ crimes against the Yazidis in six cases. These are the cases against Jennifer W., Sarah O. , Nurten J. , Omaima A. (who faced two separate trials) and Romiena S. Ms. Clooney, Ms. von Wistinghausen and Ms. Mehner, represented Yazidi victims in these cases. Unofficial English translations of some of the publicly available judicial decisions can be found in Eurojust’s database on national jurisprudence on core international crimes. Case summaries are also available in the Case Law Database on International Criminal Law in Germany which was recently launched by the International Criminal Law Research Unit at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Under German law, victims of grave crimes have the right to participate in criminal proceedings as ‘co-plaintiffs’ alongside the prosecution and defence. For her safety, the victim’s identity is not being revealed. German law normally also does not permit disclosure of defendants’ full surnames. The defendant is therefore identified as ‘Jennifer W.’ throughout this statement. For the Arabic version of the Press Release, click here . ### 300 North 27th Street, Suite C. - Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, USA info@yazda.org - www.yazda.org

The release of this crucial report follows the UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution to extend the mandate of the Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL ( UNITAD ) only until September 2024 ( UNSC resolution 2697/2023 ). The report reflects the concerns and recommendations of Iraqi NGOs and survivors' networks. Yazda, a member of the Coalition for Just Reparations ( C4JR ), joined an alliance of Iraqi NGOs in calling for comprehensive reparations for survivors of atrocity crimes perpetrated during the ISIL conflict in Iraq. In September 2023, prior to the passing of resolution 2697 by the UNSC, Yazda led the publication of a statement endorsed by 50 organizations expressing concerns about the imminent closure of UNITAD. Subsequently, within C4JR, Yazda facilitated consultations with NGOs online and in person, ensuring that their feedback was communicated to the UN, particularly in preparation for the UN Secretary-General's report released in January 2024 on Iraq’s request to receive UNITAD’s evidence. In parallel, Yazda consulted survivors’ networks, including Hope Givers, Survivors Voice Network (SVN), Speicher-1700 NGO, and the Yazidi Survivors Networks (YSN), incorporating their perspectives into the report. Natia Navrouzov, Executive Director at Yazda and co-author of the report, comments: “The report, especially its concrete recommendations, is a testament to the deep knowledge of Iraqi civil society on issues of justice and the lack thereof in Iraq. Iraqi organizations are the experts and should not be ignored. We advocated for the creation of UNITAD but were not involved in its termination. To this day, we have not been presented with a clear strategy from Iraq and the international community regarding the fate and more importantly, the use, of the evidence collected by UNITAD and what comes next. While UNITAD’s completion roadmap, due on 15 March 2024, may provide some answers, we were not meaningfully consulted on it either. Moving forward, we want to be part of the conversation and of the solution.” For the Arabic version of the Press Release, click here . For any inquiries, please contact info@yazda.org ### 300 North 27th Street, Suite C. - Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, USA info@yazda.org - www.yazda.org

26 February 2024 Yazda is pleased to announce the appointment of Natia Navrouzov as its new Executive Director. Natia’s selection underscores Yazda’s enduring commitment to the communities affected by ISIS atrocities, placing them at the core of our mission. Her appointment also reaffirms Yazda’s dedication to gender equality and women’s empowerment, as Natia will bolster our gender-responsive planning and engagement efforts. Natia Navrouzov brings a wealth of experience as a French-qualified lawyer specializing in international law, human rights, and transitional justice. As a member of the Yazidi community, Natia has been instrumental in Yazda's initiatives since joining in 2018. She holds various positions within the organization, including Project Manager and Interim Country Director. In 2021, she was appointed as Yazda’s first Legal Advocacy Director. Under her leadership, Yazda collected testimonies of ISIS survivors and documented evidence from crime sites, and collaborated with international and national bodies, including the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability Against Da’esh Crimes (UNITAD), national war crimes units and the Office of Amal Clooney. Notably, her leadership played a key role in the conviction of several ISIS members in Germany, including for genocide against Yazidi victims. In 2019, Natia supported a group of Yazidi female advocates to establish the Yazidi Survivors Network (YSN) and campaigned with them for the passing of the Yazidi Survivors Law until its adoption in March 2021. Before joining Yazda, Natia worked for a globally recognized law firm specializing in International Public Law and International Arbitration in Paris, as a Research Assistant at the London Court of Arbitration, and Assistant Lecturer at the Université of Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris. Admitted to the Paris Bar, Natia holds a dual bachelor's degree in German and French Law from the University of Cologne (Germany) and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France); she holds Master’s degrees in International Law from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne and Columbia University (USA), where she graduated as a Human Rights Fellow and Fulbright scholar, and was awarded the Davis Polk Fellowship. Natia is also an Obama Foundation Leader. Natia commented: “It is an honor for me to have been appointed as Yazda’s first female Executive Director. To me, Yazda is not just an organization but a beacon of hope for Yazidis and other minorities, who have endured countless persecutions over generations. With the help of my team and our various supporters, I am ready to take Yazda to the next level and strengthen our collaboration with Iraqi and international stakeholders, and, of course, with affected communities, especially survivors, who will remain at the center of our focus.” We also regretfully announce the departure of Haider Elias from Yazda. Haider was one of Yazda’s founders and served as its President for more than nine years. He will work with us to ensure a smooth transition until 31 March 2024, when he will move on to new challenges and opportunities. Yazda expresses profound thanks to Haider and wishes him all the best in his future endeavors. With Natia leading the way, we are eager to embark on this new chapter and elevate our partnerships to unprecedented heights, leaving a lasting impact on the lives of those we serve. Sincerely, Yazda Board of Directors For any inquiries, please contact info@yazda.org For the Arabic version of the Press Release, click here . ### 300 North 27th Street, Suite C. - Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, USA info@yazda.org - www.yazda.org

22 January 2024 Ceremonies in Baghdad, Solagh and the three villages (Hardan, Kocho and Qney) On 22 January 2024, under the auspice of the Office of the Prime Minister and in the presence of Iraqi and international officials and Yazidi community members, a funeral will be held in Baghdad following the identification of 41 Yazidi victims from Hardan, Kocho and Qney. Following this national-wide ceremony, the remains of the victims will be taken to Sinjar where a local-led ceremony will be organized on 24 January 2024, at the recently inaugurated Yazidi Genocide Memorial in Solagh. During this ceremony, Yazidi religious rituals will be performed. The remains of the victims will be then handed over to their families to allow them to bury them in their respective villages of Hardan, Kocho and Qney. From 24 to 26 January 2024, mourning days will be observed in these three villages and members of the community will be able to visit and pay their respects. The return of the sixth batch of remains and ongoing exhumations The identification of the remains was carried out by the Iraqi Medico-Legal Department (MLD) of Iraqi Ministry of Health, with the assistance of the UN Investigative Team for Accountability of Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD) and the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). The UN-supported exhumation process in Sinjar started in March 2019 and is ongoing. So far, around 60 mass graves have been exhumed and around 20 still need to be opened. The mass graves in Kocho and Solagh were the first ones to be exhumed from March 2019, followed by Hardan in February 2022 and Qney in June 2022 . This is believed to be the sixth batch of remains of Yazidi victims to be returned to Sinjar and a total of 41 victims were identified. Previously, remains have been returned mainly to Kocho and Solagh and the identification process is still ongoing. Support provided by Yazda and partners As for previous ceremonies, Yazda and other organizations will accompany Yazidi community members during this extremely sensitive time. Yazda has been coordinating the process over the past months with the national authorities and members of the community as well as partners from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNITAD and Nadia’s Initiative which will be present to provide support during the ceremonies. From its side, Yazda will deploy different teams to the burial sites. Yazda’s Case Managers will be present to provide psychological support and Yazda’s Mobile Medical Unit will provide medical assistance to the community where needed. Yazda’s Documentation Team will film the official speeches, report on the ceremonies and interview the authorities and partners, including members of the MLD and representatives of UNITAD and ICMP. The community will be invited to provide feedback on the process and report any concerns. Yazda’s Investigation Coordinator and focal point for the event, Ismail Qasim comments: “We have been supporting the process of exhumations over the past 5 years at least and it is far from being done. The crime scenes left by ISIL are countless and necessite joint efforts from all stakeholders involved, including internationals. Therefore, it is crucial that Iraq continues its collaboration with entities such as UNITAD to support the affected communities to recover the remains and bury them in a dignified way." Yazda presents its condolences to all the affected families as well as the wider Yazidi community and reiterates its commitment to work tirelessly in the pursuit of justice and the truth. For the Arabic version of the Press Release, click here .

Yazda welcomes the decision rendered on the 16 th January, 2024, by the Cour de Cassation, the French Supreme Court, confirming the indictment of Lafarge, now Holcim, for complicity in crimes against humanity. This decision echoes the landmark ruling in this case rendered in September 2021 , which held that any person can be indicted as an accomplice to crimes against humanity, if it knowingly provided support to the perpetrator of such crimes, even in the absence of intent to associate oneself with the commission of their crimes or to adhere to their criminal projects. With this new decision by the Cour de Cassation, the victims of the Syrian and Iraqi conflict are a step closer to justice for the horrors inflicted upon them by ISIS and other terror groups. This decision validates the gravity of the allegations against Lafarge and sends a strong signal that corporations must be held accountable for their actions, especially when they may contribute to crimes against humanity. “Yazda reiterates its commitment to seeking justice for the Yazidi community and other victims of ISIS. As a civil party in the Lafarge case, Yazda will continue to actively participate in the legal proceedings, in the pursuit of truth and accountability,” commented Natia Navrouzov, Legal Advocacy Director at Yazda. “This decision constitutes a significant milestone in these critically important proceedings, which will serve as a landmark for corporate accountability for international crimes. Despite numerous attempts by the defendants to obtain the dismissal of the charges of complicity of crimes against humanity on technicalities, we are now one step closer to having this case heard by a trial court and decided on its merits”, commented Luke Vidal, counsel for Yazda. For the Arabic version of the Press Release, click here . ### 300 North 27th Street, Suite C. - Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, USA info@yazda.org - www.yazda.org

Iraq, 10 November 2023 From 15 to 28 October 2023, the Iraqi national team in charge of exhumations, the Mass Graves Directorate (MGD) opened, with the support of UNITAD, ICMP and CIGE, a total of 12 mass graves in the intersection of Jidala-Tel-Azer as well as in Siba Sheikh Kheder, and Tel-Banat villages. Mass graves in Tel Azer From 15 October 2023, the national team started to exhume mass graves in the Jidala intersection near Tel-Azer. These mass graves are known as the “Mahmoud Khro” sites because they are in and close to the house and farm of the family of the same name. Yazda documented these sites in June 2017 and again in 2021. A direct witness to the events described how the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) executed male members of the family before enslaving the women and children. Other people from Tel Azer explained that while they were fleeing ISIL towards the mountains, they stopped at Mahmoud Khro’s family house to rest and drink water. Some of them might have been captured and executed there as well. Mass graves in Siba Sheikh-Khider On 18 October 2023, the forensic team, with support of UNITAD and ICMP, moved to exhume mass graves in the village of Siba Sheikh-Khider. Along with Ger Zarek, Siba Sheikh-Khider was the first Yazidi village to be attacked by ISIL. Yazda documented the sites in June 2021 and spoke to witnesses who explained how many were killed because they either tried to flee or tried to fight back. Yazda report on Ger Zarek, Siba Sheikh-Khider and Tel Azer In August this year, Yazda published a report entitled From Resistance to Rubble: The Stories of Ger Zarik, Siba Sheikh-Kheder and Tel Azer to highlight the complexity of the Yazidi genocide and the systematic and widespread attacks ISIL has committed. Yazda had also identified and documented mass graves, execution sites and captivity sites in all these villages. These locations were selected for the report as they were the first majority-Yazidi villages in Sinjar targeted by ISIL and Yazda welcomes the exhumations in two of these villages as an important step in securing justice for the Yazidi community. The process allows families of the victims to get some closure once identification of remains is successfully carried out. The mass graves in Ger Zarek were exhumed last year . Yazda had deployed its documentation team as well as its Mobile Medical Unit and case management team to support the community in this difficult moment. Yazda remains available to answer questions and to make the link with the authorities. For the Arabic version, click here .  ### 300 North 27th Street, Suite C. - Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, USA info@yazda.org - www.yazda.org

Iraq, 31 October 2023 : – The International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) and Yazda Global Organization, a prominent community-led NGO that works to provide humanitarian aid and justice to survivors of Da’esh, particularly the Yazidi community, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) formalizing cooperation to support families of missing persons in Iraq. The MoU prioritizes joint initiatives, including providing assistance to an Iraqi government-led reference sample collection campaign designed to identify human remains exhumed from mass graves. Both parties will also work to ensure that the families of the missing are fully informed about their rights to truth, justice, and reparations. ICMP Director-General Kathryne Bomberger said today's MoU “underscores our collective mission to come together and assist families of the missing. The search for missing persons is a state obligation and a state-led activity, but it must have families at its core.” She expressed confidence that the ICMP-Yazda collaboration “will be immensely valuable to survivors and their communities.” Yazda President Haider Elias said the MoU would strengthen the cooperation that already exists between the two organizations and that “Resolving the issue of missing people remains the most important priority for the Yazidi community, with thousands of families still torn apart. Together, we can work towards ensuring that missing people return and that human remains in mass graves are exhumed, identified, and restored to families with dignity.” Today’s MoU is a significant step forward in the continuing effort to secure justice for families of the missing in the region. About ICMP ICMP is a treaty-based intergovernmental organization with Headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands. Its mandate is to secure the cooperation of governments and others in locating missing persons from conflict, human rights abuses, disasters, organized crime, irregular migration, and other causes and to assist them in doing so. About Yazda Yazda is a global community-led organization providing critical humanitarian assistance and promoting accountability and justice for the genocide and other international crimes committed by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) against the Yazidi community and other groups. Yazda was established in 2014, three weeks after the genocidal campaign commenced in Sinjar, Northern Iraq, and leads advocacy and strategic projects in Dohuk, Sinjar, and the Nineveh Plains (Iraq), as well as global diaspora hubs. For the Arabic version of the Press Release, click here . Contact ICMP Contact Yazda ### 300 North 27th Street, Suite C. - Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, USA info@yazda.org - www.yazda.org

Iraq, 29 September 2023 Since the beginning of the genocide in Sinjar in August 2014, members of the Yazidi community, especially survivors of ISIL captivity have been interviewed countless times by multiple actors and for a variety of reasons, including to document their testimonies, implement projects, conduct research, write media and academic articles, or produce documentaries. Even when done with good intentions, such engagements can have a negative impact on survivors and their quest for justice, recovery, and healing. Over the years, members of the Yazidi community have shared with Yazda stories of unsatisfactory or even traumatizing interactions. These experiences have contributed to lower levels of trust in interviewers and have led to ‘interview-fatigue’ among some members of the Yazidi community from Sinjar, Iraq. While there are many general guidelines on best practice standards for interviewing survivors of grave human rights and humanitarian law violations, none is specifically tailored to prepare interviewers for their interactions with survivors of the Yazidi community from Sinjar. Yazidi survivors themselves have indicated to Yazda that they have seen little effort in addressing the knowledge gap of stakeholders in dealing with them. To fill this gap, Yazda releases the “Get To Know Me First” Guide. It is a survivor-informed document which provides practical guidance on how to engage with Yazidi survivors from Sinjar in a culturally safe and trauma-informed way. Its content draws from experiences of Yazidis from Sinjar themselves, including survivors, those who are daily interacting with them or are planning to do so, and Yazidis with deep knowledge of their history, culture and religion. The Guide can be useful to anyone engaging with Yazidi survivors but has been specifically designed to support stakeholders who conduct interviews with Yazidis as part of their mandate to promote accountability and transitional justice related processes, including UN mechanisms and law enforcement agencies, international and national organisations delivering projects targeting the Yazidi community, and journalists, filmmakers and academic researchers. The Guide is divided into three parts, reflecting each stage of interaction with survivors: before, during and after the interview. For each of these stages it provides advice, practical examples, photos and a map, and directs the reader to further resources. As we approach the 10 th year commemoration of the Yazidi genocide, engagement with Yazidi survivors must be done with at least a basic understanding of their conception of the world as well as their past and current struggles. This understanding is even more essential due to ISIL’s targeting of Yazidis stemming from profound misconceptions about their religion and culture, and systematic discrimination. Yazda can provide tailored capacity-building workshops on the Guide to transitional justice actors. Any question, comment, or request for Yazda’s assistance can be sent to documentation.project@yazda.org . Read the Guide here . An Arabic version of the Guide will be available on Yazda’s website soon. Download the Press Release here . For the Arabic version of the Press Release, click here . Natia Navrouzov, Legal Advocacy Director e: natia.navrouzov@yazda.org ### 300 North 27th Street, Suite C. - Lincoln, Nebraska 68503, USA info@yazda.org - www.yazda.org

18 September 2023 On 15 September 2023, at the request of the Government of Iraq, the UN Security Council took a step backwards in the pursuit for justice for ISIS by adopting resolution 2697 (2023). The resolution ends the mandate of United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL’s (UNITAD) in one year, on 17 September 2024. It also requests a report from the UN Secretary-General in January and a road-map for termination from UNITAD in March 2024. This abrupt decision was taken without consultation with any ISIS survivors, despite the statement made on 12 September by a group of 48 international and Iraqi human rights groups that warned of the dangers of such a move and a similar statement by Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad and her counsel Amal Clooney on the same day. UNITAD was created by the Security Council to ensure that evidence of ISIS’ crimes could be gathered on the ground in Iraq. It was clear at the time that this evidence-gathering was intended to be a first step, to be followed by prosecutions. At the Council session at which resolution 2379, creating UNITAD, was adopted, the representative of Sweden “welcomed the adoption of today's resolution, which is an important first step towards holding those responsible for the atrocities carried out by Daesh to account”. The ambassador of the US noted that “today's resolution is a … major first step towards addressing the ... crimes that include genocide”. France agreed that “this contribution by the Security Council to justice….must serve as a first step”. And the UK, which held the pen on the draft, promised that although “bringing Daesh to justice will take time…patience and resolve”, justice should be delivered because “we owe it to those who have suffered to press ahead, however long the road might be”. Yet in a session that took less than 20 minutes on Friday, the Security Council ended UNITAD’s mandate. Instead of clarifying how the evidence collected by UNITAD will now be used to prosecute ISIS for genocide and crimes against humanity, the Security Council has limited the prospects of justice. Comments by states after the vote highlighted that UNITAD has given survivors the ‘opportunity’ to provide their testimony – but what is the point in them doing so, sometimes at great risk, if it is not to be used to convict those responsible for abusing them? UN Security Council resolution 2170 (2014) , passed under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, calls on states to “bring to justice, in accordance with applicable international law, foreign terrorist fighters of, ISIL”. But the Council itself has now made it more difficult for them to do so. To date Germany’s courts have been the only ones to bring ISIS to justice for international crimes – including the only three trials anywhere in the world in which an ISIS fighter has been convicted of genocide. So far Iraq has not recognized the jurisdiction of the ICC nor reformed its laws to criminalize genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes. Trials of ISIS figures in Iraq have been considered by the UN to violate international standards. And because Iraq applies the death penalty in such trials, UNITAD is prevented from sharing its evidence with Iraq under applicable UN rules . Survivors have also frequently shared their distrust in a purely national process. The UN Secretary-General was requested “to submit to the Security Council, no later than 15 January 2024, a report setting out recommendations for implementing this request with full respect for the sovereignty of Iraq”. In our view, it is imperative that the UN make clear that: - Survivors will be consulted, and their views taken into account in developing the report; - Any evidence-sharing with Iraq will be in line with UNITAD’s Terms of Reference and applicable UN rules; - Notwithstanding Iraq’s involvement in determining ‘modalities’ for evidence-sharing under the new resolution, cooperation with third states should continue in UNITAD’s final year in conformity with the terms of resolution 2379 and the Terms of Reference; - Any evidence-sharing with any entity must fully respect the terms of the consent (or otherwise) provided by each victim or witness; and - The UNSC should convene an urgent session in early 2024 to discuss the use of the evidence gathered by UNITAD including before an international court that can prosecute ISIL members for international crimes, as proposed by survivors and their counsel including in previous addresses to the Security Council. It is regrettable that the Security Council has taken this step away from justice. The process can be salvaged – but only if states make this a priority. Natia Navrouzov Amal Clooney Yazda Counsel to Yazda Download the Statement here . For the Arabic version, click here . This statement is open to endorsements. Natia Navrouzov, Legal Advocacy Director Please email: natia.navrouzov@yazda.org