UK acknowledges Islamic State commits "acts of genocide" against Yazidis

London [UK], August 1 (ANI): The United Kingdom governmnet, after almost nine years, on Tuesday formally acknowledged that the Islamic State group committed “acts of genocide” against the Yazidi people in 2014. 
In a statement, the UK government said that the Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Ahmad made this announcement ahead of the nine-year anniversary of the atrocities committed by ISIS against the Yazidi people. 
Lord Ahmad, said, "The Yazidi population suffered immensely at the hands of Daesh 9 years ago and the repercussions are still felt to this day. Justice and accountability are key for those whose lives have been devastated."
"Today we have made the historic acknowledgement that acts of genocide were committed against the Yazidi people. This determination only strengthens our commitment to ensuring that they receive the compensation owed to them and are able to access meaningful justice," he added. 
He further stated that the UK will continue to play its role in eradicating Islamic State (ISIS), including rebuilding communities affected by its terrorism and leading global efforts against its poisonous propaganda, according to the statement.
The UK’s position has always been that determinations of genocide should be made by competent courts, rather than by governments or non-judicial bodies. This determination has been made following the judgment of the German Federal Court of Justice earlier this year, which found a former ISIS fighter guilty of acts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Iraq, Lord Ahmad said. 
The UK government had found five instances where genocide has occurred: the Holocaust, Rwanda, Srebrenica and acts of genocide in Cambodia and against the Yazidi people.
According to the US government, ISIS launched the Yazidi Genocide in 2014, targeting Iraq’s Yazidi minority for mass execution, mass rape, systematic sexual slavery and forced labour, and forced religious conversion.
In 2019, the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, which includes the United States, and its local partners liberated all territory controlled by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. However, the lives and homes of Yazidi Genocide survivors remain in peril, with over 360,000 in displacement camps throughout Iraq and Syria. ISIS maintains a presence in Yazidi-populated areas and Turkey continually wages military attacks on Sinjar.
Earlier, in 2021, the United Nations acknowledged that the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Da’esh) committed genocide against the Yazidi and war crimes against unarmed cadets and military personnel.
“A landmark moment has been reached in our work, with initial case briefs completed in relation to two key investigative priorities,” said Karim Asad Ahmad Khan, Special Adviser and Head of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (UNITAD), in a briefing on the sixth report of the Team. (ANI)