ICC should prosecute ISIS for suspected genocide in Iraq
The United Nations human rights office said Thursday that ISIS fighters may have committed genocide against the minority Yazidi community in Iraq as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes against civilians including children, Reuters reported.
In a report based on interviews with more than 100 alleged victims and witnesses, it urged the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for prosecution of perpetrators.
The report also said Iraqi government forces and affiliated militias "may have committed some war crimes" while battling the insurgency.
The U.N. Human Rights Council launched its inquiry in September after the Islamist militant group ISIS seized large swathes of northern Iraq.
The report said the Council had found "information that points to genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes," and that the Security Council should "consider referring the situation in Iraq to the International Criminal Court."
There was a "manifest pattern of attacks" by ISIS on Yazidis as well as Christians and other minorities as it laid siege to towns and villages in Iraq.
The U.N. investigators also cited allegations that ISIS had used chlorine gas, a prohibited chemical weapon, against Iraqi soldiers in the western province of Anbar in September.