Ten Years After Yazidi Genocide, Fears of Lost Evidence Hinder Justice

This summer marks ten years since the ISIS launched a brutal campaign of violence in Iraq, including the genocide against the Yazidi minority.

While the group has been territorially defeated, only nine members have been convicted for international crimes in Iraq, the New Arab reported yesterday.

According to the article, the UN’s mission to collect evidence for these crimes, UNITAD, is shutting down early in September, raising concerns about the fate of millions of critical pieces of evidence.

Survivors’ groups and human rights lawyers fear this closure reflects a wider failure to achieve justice. Natia Navrouzov of Yazda, a Yazidi advocacy group, called the closure “distressing” and a blow to the communities they serve.

UNITAD, established in 2017, aimed to help Iraq and other countries prosecute ISIS crimes. It collected vast amounts of evidence, including 40 terabytes of data, but a souring relationship between Iraq and the UN has led to the mission’s closure.

A critical question remains: what will happen to the evidence? Concerns about fair trials and the death penalty in Iraq prevent much of it from being handed over. Additionally, many survivors haven’t consented to sharing their testimonies with Iraqi authorities.

With UNITAD closing and no clear plan for the evidence, the pursuit of justice for Yazidi genocide victims appears increasingly uncertain.