The Belgian House of Representatives unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday evening recognizing that the jihadist organization ISIS committed "genocide" against the Yazidi minority in Iraq. With 139 votes in favor from the 139 deputies present at the session, the House approved this non-binding resolution, which calls on the federal government to "prosecute and punish" the perpetrators of these crimes and to support any initiatives in this direction from the international community.
According to the text of the resolution obtained by AFP, the House of Representatives "recognizes and condemns the genocide committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (the former name of ISIS) in Iraq and Syria against the Yazidis since 2014." Deputy Georges Dalmany (from the Humanist Democratic Center party), who participated in drafting the resolution, pointed out that the "systematic desire to exterminate the Yazidis" has been demonstrated by testimonies that evidence not only "murders" and "child abductions," but also show that the jihadists deliberately "destroyed livestock and crops" and "mined fields."
The resolution received support from both opposition and ruling party deputies, and was endorsed by the ten groups that make up the House of Representatives, which is a rare occurrence in Belgium. Thus, the Belgian Parliament joins a few other parliaments (Canada, Armenia, and the European Parliament based in Strasbourg) that have recognized the crimes committed by ISIS against the Yazidis as "genocide."
In 2017, the U.S. administration under President Donald Trump accused the jihadist organization of being "clearly responsible for committing genocide against Yazidis, Christians, and Shiite Muslims" in the areas it controlled. In reaction to the Belgian Parliament's decision, the spiritual leader of the Yazidis, Baba Sheikh Ali Elias, stated, "I call on all countries of the world to recognize the genocide of the Yazidis." He further expressed, "We demand that the world pressures the Iraqi government to recognize the rights of our people," reminding that thousands of Yazidis are still missing.
The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking minority concentrated particularly in Iraq and Syria, practicing an esoteric monotheistic religion and facing persecution for centuries by extremists who accuse followers of this faith of being "devil worshippers." When ISIS took control of Mosul and its surroundings, the jihadists swept through the Sinjar region, the stronghold of the Yazidis, killing thousands and abducting women and children.
According to the United Nations, the jihadists abducted thousands of Yazidi women and girls who suffered horrific atrocities such as rape, beatings, torture, and enslavement. According to the authorities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, the jihadists kidnapped over 6,400 Yazidis, of whom only half managed to escape or survive, while the fate of the rest remains unknown.
In its resolution, the Belgian House of Representatives calls on the federal government to support "efforts to free the Yazidi women and their children who are still held" by ISIS. The text also urges the Belgian government to conduct an "active campaign" at the United Nations for the Security Council to adopt a resolution calling for the referral of these crimes to an international court. Additionally, the resolution demands that the government "encourage the Iraqi government to join the International Criminal Court" based in The Hague.
