Iraq: Yazidis turn to international court

Marlise Simons writes for the New York Times :

Members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority on Thursday urged the International Criminal Court to investigate accusations of atrocities committed by militants of the Islamic State, which they said constituted genocide against their people. Murad Ismael, a member of the delegation, said the Free Yezidi Foundation and the Yazda group handed court prosecutors a report with accounts of killings, abductions of women and children, sexual enslavement and the destruction of religious sites. Luis Moreno Ocampo, the court’s former chief prosecutor, served as the group’s “legal and strategic adviser,” Mr. Ismael said. Fatou Bensouda, the court’s current chief prosecutor, has condemned crimes by Islamic State militants in Syriaand Iraq, but she has said that because those countries have not joined the court, it has no jurisdiction over matters that take place in Syria or Iraq. But Mr. Ismael said the involvement of Islamic State militants from countries that are court members, including Tunisia, Georgia and Australia, in such critical roles as training, fund-raising or organizing crimes against Yazidi women and girls might allow the court to proceed with an investigation.