Umar Farooq
23 April 2019•Update: 24 April 2019
WASHINGTON
Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney demanded justice for victims of sexual violence at the hands of Daesh terrorists in Iraq and Syria, urging the international community to prosecute them.
The wife of U.S. actor George Clooney urged the UN Security Council to “stand on the right side of history” as a resolution was introduced aiming to prevent rape as a weapon of war, reminding the council of how Nazi war criminals were prosecuted after World War II.
She offered options that could be adopted to prosecute individuals, including having the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh establish a court, or referring the matter to the International Criminal Court.
The latter option may not be as feasible, with the U.S. having restricted visas for ICC personnel who investigate or prosecute crimes suspected of being committed by U.S. forces.
“If 79 states can come together to fight ISIS on the battlefield, why can they not establish a court?” Clooney asked the council.
Clooney is also the legal counsel to Nobel Prize Laureate Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman who had been sexually abused by Daesh terrorists.
Murad said that she would swap her prize for the chance to face those who murdered her family and raped her.
“This council itself has made clear that the genocide pursued by ISIS through murder and through rape represents a threat to international security,” Clooney said.
“And when you reached a similar conclusion about such crimes in Rwanda and Bosnia you established tribunals to put the perpetrators on trial,” she added.
