Iraq: Internally Displaced People

(asked on 7th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in the report Visit to Iraq: Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, published on 13 May, what discussions they intend to have with the government of Iraq about (1) adopting "a comprehensive legal and policy framework to address the situation of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, many of whom remain in displacement, including by providing reparation through a comprehensive, inclusive and survivor centred reparation programme and expanding the proposed Yazidi reparations law and survivors’ grants" and (2) undertaking "comprehensive dialogue with communities affected by ISIL atrocities, in particular ethnic and religious minorities, to establish transitional justice mechanisms, to seek the truth about violations and to provide reparation, rebuilding trust between the population and the State and providing institutional guarantees of non-repetition".


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
This question was answered on 20th July 2020

The UK is committed to championing wider restorative justice efforts for survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and holding perpetrators to account. The UK has provided significant support to survivors of sexual violence in Iraq. Our Embassy in Baghdad has regular discussions with the Government of Iraq and the UN Investigative Team for the Accountability of Daesh (UNITAD), encouraging close co-operation between them to achieve justice for the victims of Daesh's crimes in Iraq. We welcome the fact that UNITAD is expanding its engagement with witnesses, survivors and impacted communities.

We are supporting the development of inclusive and representative reconciliation processes, involving Yazidis and other minorities who faced appalling suffering under Daesh, at both national and community levels in Iraq. We also remain committed to supporting Iraq to prevent Daesh resurgence, as the Foreign Secretary reaffirmed to new Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein on 25 June.

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