Up to a million people “disappeared” in Iraq in last half century – UN
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters Up to a million people have been “disappeared” in Iraq during a tumultuous last half century spanning the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein, US-led military occupation and the rise of Islamic State militants, the United Nations said on Tuesday. The UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances urged Iraq, which has one of the […]
In the aftermath of conflict: In a northern town brutalised by IS, Iraq tests its power
SAMYA KULLAB, of Associated Press, report from Sinjar in northern Iraq…
Murad, Amal Clooney accuse leaders and UN of failing Yazidis
United NationsAP Six years after Islamic State fighters launched an attack on Iraq’s Yazidi minority, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney accused government leaders and the United Nations on Monday of failing to bring the extremists responsible for the genocide to justice. Murad, whose mother and six brothers were […]
ESSAY: FIVE YEARS AFTER ISLAMIC STATE MASSACRE, AN IRAQI MINORITY IS TRANSFORMED BY TRAUMA
In an article first published on The Conversation, TUTKU AYHAN and GUNES MURAT TEZCUR, of the University of Central Florida, look at what their research shows about how life has changed for the Yazidi of Iraq in the wake of Islamic State attacks…
Yazidi doctor awarded for his work helping women calls for justice
Tbilisi, GeorgiaThomson Reuters Foundation Yazidi families would not feel safe returning to their homes in Iraq until Islamic State militants accused of atrocities against the religious minority face justice, according to a doctor awarded on Saturday for his work with Yazidi women and children. Mirza Dinnayi, a Yazidi activist named the winner of the Aurora […]
Quick facts – 10 facts on Islamic State’s Yazidi killings
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Saturday marks the fifth anniversary of Islamic State’s assault on Iraq’s Yazidi minority, described by the United Nations as a genocide, in which thousands were killed or abducted. The 3rd August, 2014, attack on Mount Sinjar, the Yazidi heartland, shocked the international community and prompted the United States to carry out air […]
Nobel Prize winner warns wildfires threaten Iraqi mass graves
LondonThomson Reuters Foundation Nobel Prize-winner and Yazidi activist Nadia Murad has warned that wildfires raging in northern Iraq could destroy crucial evidence of genocide committed by Islamic State. Murad, a survivor of sexual slavery, said the fires had burned some of the 79 mass graves in the Sinjar region where victims of Islamic State atrocities […]
Pope pays tribute to journalists who were killed; says press freedom vital
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis paid tribute on Saturday to journalists killed while doing their jobs, saying media freedom is a key indicator of a country’s health. In an address to the Foreign Press Association in Italy, he urged journalists to shun fake news and continue reporting on the plight of people who no longer make […]
ESSAY: GENOCIDE – 70 YEARS ON, THREE REASONS WHY THE UN CONVENTION IS STILL FAILING
In an article first published on The Conversation, RACHAEL BURNS, of the University of York in the UK, looks at why a UN Convention on genocide isn’t as effective as it should be…
Women raped by Islamic State need justice, UK ex-foreign minister says
Thomson Reuters Foundation Britain’s former foreign minister William Hague called for greater efforts to prosecute rape in conflict zones such as Myanmar, Nigeria and Iraq, six years after he launched an initiative with Hollywood’s Angelina Jolie to end the crime. Hague and Oscar-winning actress Jolie launched the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative in 2012 to stop […]