Iraqi Kurdistan: Appeal for ICC to Recognize Yazidi Genocide Rejected
Photo courtesy of: Global Panorama@flickr
A Kurdish delegation visited the Netherlands in October with the purpose of asking for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to recognize the Yazidi genocide by the so-called Islamic State. The appeal was denied by the ICC as Iraq is not a signatory, which also prevented international recognition of the Kurdish genocide.
Below is an article published by Basnews:
The Iraqi Kurdistan Region case asking the International Criminal Court to recognize the Yazidi genocide by Islamic State (IS) militants in Sinjar, northern Iraq, has not been accepted, as Iraq is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Zana Rostayi, a Kurdish member of Iraqi Parliament, told BasNews earlier this month that a Kurdistan Region delegation had visited the Netherlands with the aim of international recognition of the Kurdish Yazidi genocide.
However, as Iraq isn’t a member of the international criminal court in The Hague, the KRG request was rejected.
The ICC won’t accept any cases from complainants who are not signatories to the court.
Rostayi said that if Iraqi becomes a member of the court in the Netherlands, it would be the first step towards acceptance of the Kurdish request.
He also explained the Kurdish genocide and chemical attack in Halabja by former Iraqi regime in the 1980s may have been recognized internationally if Iraq was a member of the ICC.
In August, when Islamic State insurgents overran Sinjar and other areas in northern Iraq, thousands of Kurdish Yazidis fled to the Kurdistan Region whilst hundreds of others were killed or kidnapped in Sinjar.
