UN investigators release app to help bring ISIS killers to justice

Former Yazidi sex slaves and others who suffered under the brutal reign of ISIS will soon be able to upload evidence against their abusers through a mobile phone app

Former Yazidi sex slaves and others who suffered under the brutal reign of ISIS will soon be able to upload evidence against their abusers through a mobile phone app, the head of the UN investigation team in Iraq said on Monday.

Karim Ahmad Khan told a video UN Security Council meeting that the app, which will come online this month, will allow ISIS victims to upload photographs and other proof of abuse to help put perpetrators behind bars.

Mr Khan is the head of the investigations team known as Unitad.

The app is a boon for ISIS victims, many of whom fled overseas during the extremist group’s onslaught and have struggled to testify against their abusers.

Victims’ groups say that too few ISIS militiamen have faced justice for their crimes.

“We’re rolling out a mobile application that allows Unitad to work and communicate directly with the survivor communities, whether they’re in Iraq, Australia or Germany,” Mr Khan said.

“They can actually give us their names and details securely. They can even update photographs and other material so that we can expedite our focused investigation to get results.”

The app was initially designed to gather evidence in Iraq under the coronavirus pandemic travel restrictions, Unitad said in its latest report.

The app is not the first time UN investigators have turned to technology to build cases against ISIS militiamen, who swept across western Iraq from Syria in 2014 to expand their self-declared caliphate and brutalise minorities.