Evidence shows over 3,000 individuals impacted by ISIS chemical weapons in Iraq: UN

Wladimir van Wilgenburg 2021/12/03 13:58

The United Nations Security Council, at UN headquarters in New York. (Photo: UN)

Iraq ISIS Iraq Syria UN UNITAD United Nations Security Council UNSC War crimes Justice

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – More than 3,000 individuals in Iraq are now known to have suffered from ISIS chemical weapons attacks had been identified, said the new head of the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh (UNITAD) during his first briefing to the UN Security Council in New York.

Special Advisor Christian Ritscher told the council that forensic analysis of battlefield evidence collected by the UNITAD team showed that ISIS’s development and deployment of chemical weapons reflected a strategic priority implemented in line with a long-term plan, according to a UN press release.

He added that local medical records his team possesses show children admitted for burns leading to death and longer-term health impacts on communities, adding that he will present “a comprehensive case-brief that details the Team’s findings and legal characterization of ISIS’s chemical weapons programme in his next report to the Council.”

He characterized the evidence as a “potential turning point in efforts to hold ISIL accountable before competent courts.”

“To deliver on the promise made through Security Council resolution 2379 (2017),” he said as his presentation came to a close, “We must put this evidence to work before competent courts,” stressing that such efforts “must be done in a manner which feeds into competent courts to bring justice to victims and hold perpetrators accountable for their international crimes.”

According to reports from two years ago, ISIS has successfully produced the chemical agent sulfur mustard and has used it while fighting Iraqi forces, Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and other armed groups.

UNITAD was established by UN Security Council Resolution 2379 in 2017 to support domestic efforts to hold ISIS accountable by “collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq ' of mass crimes by ISIS.

UNITAD is focused on three key areas, including crimes against the Yezidi (Ezidi) minority in the Sinjar (Shingal) district in August 2014, ISIS crimes in Mosul between 2014 and 2016, and the mass killing of unarmed Iraqi air force cadets from the Tikrit Air Academy in June 2014.

In early November, Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani received Ritscher at the start of his tenure in his new post and congratulated the lead investigator on his appointment.

Barzani concluded the meeting by wishing him success, emphasizing “the importance of UNITAD backing KRG criminal trials against ISIS terrorists,” according to a statement released by the prime minister’s office.