Turkey should face trial before the International Court of Justice over Yazidi genocide, report says

A group of prominent human rights lawyers said Turkey should face trial before the International Court of Justice for “being complicit in acts of genocide against the Yazidi people.”

The lawyers investigated 13 countries on “the binding responsibility states have to prevent genocide on their territories, even if they are carried out by a third party such as Islamic State (ISIS),” and revealed in a report that Syria and Iraq also failed to take “reasonable steps” to prevent the killings, the Guardian newspaper said on Wednesday.

Yazidis are a religious and ethnic minority, mainly living in Turkey, Syria and Iraq, some of whom consider themselves Kurdish. 

The 278-page report blamed Turkish leaders of being complicit in the massacres as they failed to halt the flow of ISIS militants across Turkey’s borders.

From April 2014, Turkish officials overlooked the “sale, transfer and enslavement” of Yazidi women and children the report said, according to the Guardian. 

Turkish officials also helped train militants affiliated with ISIS to fight against Kurds in Syria, the report said. This was an act of strengthening the perpetrators of the genocide, it said.

“Turkish officials knew and/or were willfully blind to evidence that these individuals would use this training to commit prohibited acts against the Yazidis,” the report said.

The group, led by British human rights lawyer Helena Kennedy, announced their collaboration under the Yazidi Justice Committee (YJC) last month.