Special UN commission to investigate Daesh crimes in Iraq

Earlier this week Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari asked the UN to help Iraq establish a special UN commission to investigate crimes committed by Daesh.

The announcement appears to be a response to campaigners and rights group who have been pushing for a UN-led commission to investigate human rights abuses and alleged war crimes committed by Daesh over the past three years.

Along with Britain international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney and Nadia Murad – a woman from the Yazidi religious minority who was enslaved and raped by Daesh fighters in Mosul – have been at the forefront in pushing Iraq to call for a UN inquiry.

Clooney has previously called Daesh atrocities “the worst crimes of our generation”.

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It’s not yet clear if the request is calling for a commission similar to the UN commission of inquiry on Syria that was established on 22 August 2011 by the Human Rights Council to investigate all alleged violations of international human rights law within Syria.

Earlier this month Syria investigator Carla del Ponte quit the commission for what she described as a lack of “political will”.

While the UN commission of inquiry on Syria was set up to investigate alleged atrocities by all parties including regime forces, Daesh and various opposition forces, the request by Al-Jaafari seems to be concerned only with the crimes committed by Daesh. There have been allegations of wide-scale human rights abuse by the country’s Shia militia known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces and also the Iraqi army.

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It’s believed that Al-Jaafari sent the letter to the UN on the request of the UK. The 15-member Security Council could have established an inquiry without Iraq’s consent, but Britain is thought to have wanted Iraq’s approval.

Britain’s mission to the United Nations confirmed the request on Twitter and said that it was working with Iraq on a draft resolution to establish the commission.