On August 3, 2014, the Islamic State attacked the Yezidis of Sinjar in Iraq’s Nineveh province. Thousands of Yezidis were massacred and many others abducted, while more than half a million fled for their lives.
Three years later, the conditions that led to ISIS’s rise and the failure to prevent genocide and crimes against humanity against the Yezidis, Christians and other ethnic and religious minorities—including the collapse of local governance and security—have not been addressed. The successful political reconstruction of Iraq and Kurdistan depends on the ability to ensure justice and fair treatment for the region’s most vulnerable populations.
The ideological and political struggle against the Islamic State requires bringing its fighters to justice for their crimes not only of terrorism, but also of genocide. Though this process has just begun, to date, thousands of captured ISIS fighters have been accused of terrorism, but not one of them has been charged or tried for their crimes of genocide.
On August 3, Hudson Institute hosted a panel discussion on this important component of the battle against ISIS. Pari Ibrahim of the Free Yezidi Foundation and Naomi Kikoler of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum joined Hudson Institute’s Eric B. Brown to assess how adherents of the Islamic State movement can be brought to justice for their crimes of genocide, how the safety of vulnerable minority communities can be ensured as Iraq rebuilds, the unique stabilization needs of Nineveh where most minorities live, and what role the U.S. should play in preventing genocide in the future.
Please join Hudson Senior Fellow and Director of the Keystone Defense Initiative Rebeccah Heinrichs for a conversation with Senators Risch and Wicker on US support for Ukraine’s defense on Wednesday, March 29, at 4:00 p.m. A reception will follow.
Please join Hudson Institute for a discussion with Israel's Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Ofir Akunis and Executive Director of the Abraham Accords Peace Institute Robert Greenway, moderated by Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East Director Michael Doran.
Please join Hudson Institute to discuss what has gone wrong with US policy toward Venezuela and how the Biden administration and 118th Congress can reinvigorate efforts to support democracy so that all Venezuelans can have a brighter future.
Join Hudson Institute for a conversation on these issues and more with Ambassador Adela Raz, former ambassador of Afghanistan to the US and visiting fellow at Hudson Institute, and Ambassador Husain Haqqani, former ambassador of Pakistan to the US and director of Hudson Institute’s South and Central Asia program.
