The UN to end its investigation into the Islamic State in Iraq
As requested by the Iraqi government, the Security Council voted unanimously on Friday to end a U.N. investigation into Islamic State activities in Iraq in a year.
On Friday, the Security Council unanimously voted to end, one year from now, a U.N. investigation into the activities of Islamic State extremists in Iraq.
As part of the U.K.-sponsored resolution, Baghdad also requested that U.N. investigators hand over the evidence they have collected to the Iraqi government so that Iraqi authorities can seek accountability for IS members as well as those who assisted and financed the group.
In September 2017, the Security Council established an investigative team at Iraq's request to collect evidence against members of the Islamic State group.
He told the council in June that the team's investigators were compiling evidence on the development and use of chemical weapons by Islamic State extremists and that their documentation was on the militant group's gender-based violence and crimes against children, Christians, and Yazidis as well as Sunni and Shiite Muslims.
In 2014, the Islamic State group seized more than a third of Iraq and a large part of Syria and declared a self-styled caliphate. Following a three-year battle in Iraq, IS was declared defeated in 2017. However, IS sleeper cells continue to stage attacks in both countries to this day.
Barb Woodward, Britain's U.N. ambassador, told the council that the U.N. team supported the excavation of mass graves, facilitated the return of remains to victims' families, and worked closely with Iraqi judges and prosecutors.
The program has enabled survivors to safely testify, including survivors of sexual and gender-based violence, with their rights fully respected, she said. As a result, survivors have been able to receive psychosocial treatment in partnership with the Iraqi Ministry of Health, which has had a real impact."
According to the resolution, Guterres must submit recommendations for implementing Iraq's request for evidence obtained by the U.N. team by Jan. 15. As well as determining how evidence can be shared with other countries with Iraq's approval, the Security Council asks the team to inform Baghdad of any evidence already being shared with other countries.
According to Woodward, Britain will work with the Iraqi government to continue the legacy of the U.N. team.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad and her high-profile human rights lawyer, Amal Clooney, expressed concern that the team's mandate might not be renewed despite the fact that she was taken by Islamic State fighters and became a sexual slave.
Evidence and testimonies collected by the team "demonstrated the depth" of IS brutality - not only against Yazidis but also against other minorities.
As part of their appeal, Murad and Clooney requested that the team's mandate be extended to preserve evidence for future criminal proceedings and improve Iraq's capacity to investigate and prosecute international crimes.
