UN mission probing Daesh crimes forced to shut in Iraq

Man sits next to coffins containing remains of people from the Yazidi minority, who were killed in Daesh attacks in 2014, after they were exhumed from a mass grave, in Mosul, Iraq. (File/Reuters)
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Updated 20 March 2024
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UN mission probing Daesh crimes forced to shut in Iraq

  • Head of UN agency says work is not complete
  • Move may hamper bid to prosecute more Daesh members

BAGHDAD: A United Nations mission set up to help Iraq investigate alleged Daesh genocide and war crimes is being forced to shut prematurely before it can finish its probes, following a souring of its relationship with the Iraqi government.
The removal of the UN mission set up in 2017 comes nearly a decade after the extremist group rampaged across Syria and Iraq and at a time when many of Daesh’s victims still live displaced in camps and long for justice.
“Is the work done? Not yet, this is pretty clear,” Christian Ritscher, head of the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh (UNITAD), told Reuters in an interview.
“We need more time... If you look at an end-date of September 2024, we will not achieve a completion of all investigative lines,” nor other projects such as creating a central archive for millions of pieces of evidence, he said.
Ritscher was speaking at length about the closure for the first time since the UN Security Council in September renewed the agency’s mandate for only one final year at Iraq’s request.
UNITAD’s international backers and donors had expected its work would continue for several more years.
Critics of Iraq’s decision to end the mission say it will hamper efforts to hold more members of Daesh accountable after UNITAD contributed to at least three convictions on charges of genocide and other international crimes in Germany and Portugal.
They also say it casts doubt on Iraq’s commitment to holding Daesh members accountable for such crimes at home, at a time when the vast majority of convictions in Iraq are made for simple membership of a terrorist organization, rather than specific crimes such as sexual abuse or slavery.
From Iraq’s perspective, UNITAD was no longer needed and had not successfully cooperated with Iraqi authorities, Farhad Alaaldin, foreign affairs adviser to the prime minister, told Reuters.
“In our view, the mission has ended and we appreciate the work that has been done and it’s time to move on,” he said, noting the mission “didn’t respond to repeated requests for sharing evidence” and must now do so before it ends.

’Highly political’
But that transfer of information appears uncertain.
UNITAD was set up to help Iraq hold Daesh members accountable for international crimes — genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity — but Iraq has not passed legislation for that to happen in-country, leaving UNITAD “in a waiting position,” Ritscher said.
Additionally, UNITAD was reluctant to share evidence it gathered with Iraqi authorities because of Iraq’s use of the death penalty, which goes against UN policy, according to six people familiar with the mission’s work.
These factors put UNITAD in the awkward position of gathering evidence, including hundreds of witness testimonies, in Iraq but mainly using that evidence in legal processes abroad, in a mismatch that festered for years.
Reuters spoke to nine diplomats and international officials and four Iraqi sources to piece together this account of how UNITAD’s mission came to be curbed and the consequences it may have for accountability efforts.
Apart from the baked-in mismatch between the mission’s goals and Iraq’s expectations, six people said that under Ritscher, a seasoned German prosecutor, UNITAD had not properly invested in the politics of dealing with Iraqi authorities, harming the relationship.
“Death penalty was always a main issue with UNITAD. It’s mandate was far-fetched but many hoped it could work,” a senior international diplomat said, referring to the incompatibility between goals and expectations.
“Added to that, the current leadership did not have the political skills to reach out. That doesn’t work here in Iraq. Everything is highly political here.”
In response to that comment, a UNITAD spokesperson said the mission had absolute clarity from the beginning that it existed under the request of Iraq, and was always convinced the Iraqi judiciary was its main partner.
The spokesperson noted UNITAD’s production of joint case files with the Iraqi judiciary for trials abroad, as well as capacity-building for judges and cooperation on the exhumation of 70 mass graves and dignified burials for Daesh victims.

Lost hope
For many Daesh victims who distrust Iraq’s government and saw UNITAD’s presence as a reassuring sign of the international community’s support, the end of the mission has come as a blow.
These include members of Iraq’s Yazidi community, a religious minority Daesh saw as devil worshippers and subjected to mass killings, sexual violence and enslavement.
“Its very hard to see them leave us like this in the middle of the road,” said Zina, a Yazidi enslaved by Daesh at the age of 16 and held in captivity for three years.
She spoke via phone from a displacement camp near her native Sinjar in northwestern Iraq to which she cannot return amid concerns over security and lack of government compensation.
She asked Reuters to withhold her full name due to the sensitivity of what was discussed.
Zina said she was physically and sexually abused in captivity and true justice would require the family that enslaved her be tried for those crimes, rather than convicted of simple membership of a terrorist group.
“We wanted UNITAD to give us the chance to achieve even a little bit of justice in Iraq but, as I see it, the world failed us,” she said, referring to UNITAD’s impending closure.
Alaaldin said the government respected the critical views of citizens and was more supportive of Iraq’s minority communities than previous administrations.
Ritscher said he understood victims’ concerns but “I do not share the very negative assumptions about Iraq’s judiciary.”
With the mission set to end by mid-September, a burning question currently under negotiation between Iraq and the world body is what happens to the mass of evidence UNITAD gathered.
On the one hand, some diplomats, activists and victims are concerned it could be misused by Iraq, including in trials with little due process that might result in death sentences. On the other, much of the evidence could be critical to holding Daesh members accountable for specific international crimes.
“What we aimed to achieve is a proper completion. We want to ensure that this work is not lost or will simply go into a dead archive somewhere in the basement of a UN building,” Ritscher said, though there is not yet clarity on the matter.
Razaw Salihy, Iraq researcher at Amnesty International, noted flaws in the Iraqi justice system “that have landed thousands of men and boys on death row via confessions extracted under torture, duress and other kinds of ill treatment.”
Iraq denies obtaining confessions through coercion.
She said Iraq should reform its judiciary and pass a law on international crimes but noted political will might be lacking among a ruling coalition that includes armed groups.
“It could be a Pandora’s box. A working mechanism to hold members of IS accountable could also very easily be used to hold members of Iraqi security forces and armed groups accountable,” she said.


UN could meet with Israel PM despite warrant: UN

Updated 22 November 2024
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UN could meet with Israel PM despite warrant: UN

  • UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Netanyahu have not spoken since the war started
  • UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN policy on contacts with people facing arrest warrants dates back to a document issued in 2013

UNITED NATIONS: The arrest warrant issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the war in Gaza does not bar UN officials from meeting with him in the course of their work, the UN said Thursday.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Netanyahu have not spoken since the war started as a result of the Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, although there have been contacts with the Israeli leader by UN officials in the region.
Guterres has been declared persona non grata by Israel, which accuses him of being biased in favor of the Palestinians. So talks between him and Netanyahu are very unlikely.
After the warrants issued Thursday by the International Criminal Court against Netanyahu, former defense minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said UN policy on contacts with people facing arrest warrants dates back to a document issued in 2013.
“The rule is that there should not be any contacts between UN officials and individuals subject to arrest warrants,” Dujarric said.
But limited contacts are allowed “to address fundamental issues, operational issues, and our ability to carry out our mandates,” he added.
In late October, at a summit of the BRICS countries in Russia, Guterres met with President Vladimir Putin, who faces an arrest warrant from the ICP over the war in Ukraine.
That meeting, during which Guterres reiterated his condemnation of the Russian invasion, angered Ukraine.


Palestinians welcome ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM and former defense minister

Updated 22 November 2024
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Palestinians welcome ICC arrest warrants for Israeli PM and former defense minister

  • Palestinian Authority calls on UN member states to ensure the warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, who are accused of war crimes, are acted upon
  • The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrel, says decision is ‘binding’ on all members of the International Criminal Court

LONDON: Palestinians welcomed the decision by the International Criminal Court on Thursday to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former minister of defense, Yoav Gallant.

The Palestinian Authority said the court’s decision comes as Israeli forces continue to bomb Gaza in a conflict that has killed nearly 45,000 Palestinians since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas, and it hopes the ruling will help to restore faith in international law, the official Palestinian WAFA news agency reported.

Netanyahu and Gallant are the first leading officials from a nation allied with the West against whom the ICC has issued arrest warrants since the court was established in July 2002. It also issued an arrest warrant for Mohammed Deif, the head of the military wing of Hamas. Israeli authorities said in August he was killed by their forces in an attack the previous month, though Hamas have not confirmed this.

All three men are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their actions during the war in Gaza or the Oct. 7 attacks.

The PA said the decision to issue warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant was important because Palestinians “are being subjected to genocide and war crimes, represented by starvation as a method of warfare,” as well as mass displacement and collective punishment.

The PA, which signed up to the ICC in 2015, called on all UN member states to ensure the warrants are acted upon and to “cut off contact and meetings with the international wanted men, Netanyahu and Gallant.” Israel is not a member of the ICC.

The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrel, posted a message on social media platform X on Thursday in which he described the court’s decisions as “binding” on all those who have signed up to it.

“These decisions are binding on all states party to the Rome Statute (the treaty that established the ICC), which includes all EU member states,” he wrote.

Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister who has spent 17 years in office during three spells in charge since 1996, denounced the decision by the ICC to issue the warrant as “antisemitic.”

He said it would “have serious consequences for the court and those who will cooperate with it in this matter.”


Between bomb craters: Taxis stuck on war-hit Lebanon-Syria border

Updated 21 November 2024
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Between bomb craters: Taxis stuck on war-hit Lebanon-Syria border

MASNAA, Lebanon: Stuck in no man’s land on the war-hit Lebanon-Syria border, cab driver Fadi Slika now scrapes a living ferrying passengers between two deep craters left by Israeli air strikes.

The journey is just 2 km, but Slika has no other choice — his taxi is his only source of income.

“My car is stuck between craters: I can’t reach Lebanon or return to Syria. Meanwhile, we’re under threat of (Israeli) bombardment,” said the 56-year-old.

“I work and sleep here between the two holes,” he said.

A dual Lebanese-Syrian national, Slika has been living in his car, refusing to abandon it when it broke down until a mechanic brought a new engine.

His taxi is one of the few that has been operating between the two craters since Israeli strikes in October effectively blocked traffic on the Masnaa crossing.

The bombed area has become a boon for drivers of tuk-tuks, who can navigate the craters easily. 

A makeshift stall, the Al-Joura (pit in Arabic) rest house, and a shop are set up nearby.

Slika went for 12 days without work while waiting for his taxi to be fixed. The car has become his home. A warm blanket covers its rear seats against eastern Lebanon’s cold winters, and a big bag of pita bread sits on the passenger side.

Before being stranded, Slika made about $100 for trips from Beirut to Damascus.

Now, an average fare between the craters is just $5.50 each way, though he said he charged more.

On Sept. 23, Israel intensified its aerial bombing of Lebanon and later sent in ground troops, nearly a year after Hezbollah initiated limited exchanges of fire in support of Hamas amid the Gaza war.

Since then, Israel has bombed several land crossings with Syria out of service. 

It accuses Hezbollah of using what are key routes for people fleeing the war in Lebanon to transfer weapons from Syria.

Amid the hardship of the conflict, more than 610,000 people have fled from Lebanon to Syria, mostly Syrians, according to Lebanese authorities.

Undeterred by attacks, travelers still trickle through Masnaa, traversing the two craters that measure about 10 meters deep and 30 meters wide.

On the other side of the road, Khaled Khatib, 46, was fixing his taxi, its tires splattered with mud and hood coated in dust.

“After the first strike, I drove from Syria and parked my car before the crater. When the second strike hit, I got stuck between the two holes,” he said, sweat beading as he looked under the hood.

“We used to drive people from Damascus to Beirut. Now, we take them from one crater to another.”

Khatib doesn’t charge passengers facing tough times, he said, adding he had been displaced from southern Beirut, hammered by Israeli raids since September. He moved back to his hometown near the Masnaa crossing.

Despite harsh times, a sense of camaraderie reigns.

The drivers “became like brothers. We eat together at the small stall every day ... and we help each other fix our cars,” he said.

Mohamed Yassin moved his coffee stall from the Masnaa crossing closer to the pit after the strike, offering breakfast, lunch, and coffee. “We try to help people as much as possible,” he said.

Farther from the Lebanese border, travelers crossed the largest of the two crevasses, wearing plastic coverings on their shoes to avoid slipping in the mud.

A cab driver on a mound called out, “Taxi to Damascus!” while tuk-tuks and trucks ferried passengers, bags, and mattresses across.

Nearby, Aida Awda Mubarak, a Syrian mother of six, haggled with a tuk-tuk driver over the $1 fare.

The 52-year-old said she was out of work and needed to see her son after the east Lebanon town where he lives was hit by Israeli strikes.

“Sometimes we just can’t afford to pay for a tuk-tuk or a cab,” she said.


Netanyahu says ICC warrant won’t stop Israel defending itself

Updated 21 November 2024
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Netanyahu says ICC warrant won’t stop Israel defending itself

  • “No outrageous anti-Israel decision will prevent us — and it will not prevent me — from continuing to defend our country in every way,” Netanyahu said
  • The premier is accused alongside his former defense minister Yoav Gallant of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity“

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court over his conduct of the Gaza war would not stop him defending Israel.
“No outrageous anti-Israel decision will prevent us — and it will not prevent me — from continuing to defend our country in every way,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “We will not yield to pressure,” he vowed.
The premier is accused alongside his former defense minister Yoav Gallant of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
He described Thursday’s decision as a “dark day in the history of nations.”
“The International Criminal Court in The Hague, which was established to protect humanity, has today become the enemy of humanity,” he said, adding that the accusations were “utterly baseless.”
Israel has been fighting in Gaza since October 2023, when a cross-border attack by Hamas militants resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Its retaliatory campaign has led to the deaths of 44,056 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.
UN agencies have warned of a severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza, including possible famine, due to a lack of food and medicines.
The court said it had found “reasonable grounds” to believe Netanyahu and Gallant bore “criminal responsibility” for the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare, as well as the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.
Netanyahu said the court was accusing Israel of “fictitious crimes,” while ignoring “the real war crimes, horrific war crimes being committed against us and against many others around the world.”
In addition to Netanyahu and Gallant, the court also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military wing chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel said was killed in an air strike last July.
Hamas has never confirmed his death.
Netanyahu mocked the court’s decision to issue a warrant for “the body of Mohammed Deif.”


Italy says would have to arrest Netanyahu after ICC warrant

Updated 21 November 2024
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Italy says would have to arrest Netanyahu after ICC warrant

  • Crosetto believed the ICC was “wrong” to put Netanyahu and Gallant on the same level as Hamas
  • It was not a political choice but Italy was bound as a member of the ICC to act on the court’s warrants

ROME: Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said Thursday his country would be obliged to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited, after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant.
The ICC earlier also issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu’s former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas’s military chief Mohammed Deif.
Crosetto — whose country holds the G7 rotating presidency this year — told RAI television’s Porta a Porta program that he believed the ICC was “wrong” to put Netanyahu and Gallant on the same level as Hamas.
But he said that if Netanyahu or Gallant “were to come to Italy, we would have to arrest them.”
It was not a political choice but Italy was bound as a member of the ICC to act on the court’s warrants, Crosetto said.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had earlier been more cautious, saying: “We support the ICC, while always remembering that the court must play a legal role and not a political role.
“We will evaluate together with our allies what to do and how to interpret this decision.”