Delivering justice for the victims and survivors of ISIL atrocities
Statement by Fergus Eckersley, UK Political Coordinator at the UN, at the UN Security Council briefing on Iraq
Thank you, Mr President. We welcome the Special Adviser’s report on the very important work that he and his team are doing.
The world was shocked by the horrific crimes committed by ISIL – by its barbaric methods, its use of mass execution, torture and rape. We must maintain our collective determination to ensure accountability for all the suffering ISIL caused.
The UK therefore reaffirms its strong support for the work of UNITAD, and for the progress that it’s making.
In particular, we strongly support UNITAD’s efforts to contribute to the domestic prosecution of ISIL members in 15 Member States, including prosecutions in Sweden and Germany.
We also welcome UNITAD’s thorough efforts to investigate the financing of ISIL’s crimes – the “house of money” described by the Special Adviser. Detailed documentation of this house of money is vital if we are to establish accountability for the full scope of ISIL’s activity, and for the full ISIL hierarchy.
We reiterate our support for UNITAD’s work with the Iraqi judiciary to develop capacity to deal with the full range of these complex crimes. We hope to see this continue and strengthen, and we welcome the cooperation of the Iraqi government with UNITAD’s work.
We applaud the focus UNITAD maintains on the welfare and experiences of survivors, as well as UNITAD’s continued efforts in engaging with all affected communities across Iraq, including ethnic and religious minorities. As the Special Adviser said, the resilience of those survivor groups is inspiring.
In particular, ensuring that survivors of sexual enslavement and violence can have their experiences documented safely and effectively – women and girls from the Yazidi community, for example - is the first step towards achieving justice and accountability for these awful crimes.
This is why UNITAD’s investigative experts contributed to the development of the Murad Code, a global code of conduct for gathering information from survivors, which we launched with Nadia Murad under our Presidency of the Security Council.
We have also supported the International Organisation for Migration in its work with the Directorate for Survivors’ Care in Iraq, facilitating the design and implementation of an effective, accessible reparations mechanism.
Mr President, the UNITAD mission deserves this Council’s full support. UNITAD’s close collaboration with the Government of Iraq is vital if we are to deliver the justice and accountability that the victims and survivors of ISIL atrocities deserve.
Thank you.