On August 1, 2023, the United Kingdom Government formally recognized the Daesh atrocities against the Yazidis as genocide. The announcement comes nine years after the atrocities and follows a determination of the atrocities as genocide by a German court. Making the announcement, the Minister of State for the Middle East, Lord Ahmad, said that “The Yazidi population suffered immensely at the hands of Daesh nine years ago and the repercussions are still felt to this day. Justice and accountability are key for those whose lives have been devastated. Today we have made the historic acknowledgement that acts of genocide were committed against the Yazidi people. This determination only strengthens our commitment to ensuring that they receive the compensation owed to them and are able to access meaningful justice. The U.K. will continue to play a leading role in eradicating Daesh, including through rebuilding communities affected by its terrorism and leading global efforts against its poisonous propaganda.”

On August 3, 2014, Daesh, a non-state actor with unprecedented support from foreign fighters, attacked Sinjar and unleashed prohibited acts against the Yazidis, an ethno-religious minority group in Iraq. Daesh fighters killed hundreds if not thousands of people. As part of the same campaign, Daesh fighters abducted boys to turn them into child soldiers and women and girls for sex slavery. More than 2,700 women and children are still missing and their fate is unknown. The atrocities have been recognized as meeting the legal definition of genocide by the governments of the United States, Canada, and the Netherlands, several parliaments, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), and bodies of the United Nations.

Making the announcement, the U.K. Government credited the recognition to the judgment of the German Federal Court of Justice earlier this year, which found a former Daesh fighter guilty of acts of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Iraq. Indeed, it is the U.K.’s position that determinations of genocide should be made by competent courts, rather than by governments or non-judicial bodies. However, the announcement does not comment on why the U.K. Government has not recognized the determinations of the genocide by other competent German courts and first after the determination by the German Federal Court of Justice. Indeed, as of August 2023, three German courts have made such determinations of the atrocities as genocide.

Despite the delay, the announcement is significant as it recognizes the nature of the pain and suffering inflicted upon this community. Murad Ismael, President and co-founder of Sinjar Academy and co-founder and former Executive Director of Yazda, welcomed the determination stating that “the U.K. recognition is an important step we highly appreciate on behalf of our people. We thank the United Kingdom for doing the right thing and for standing with justice. Acknowledgement is the heart of justice process and helping victims to heal from the deep wounds of this genocide. We appreciate the tireless work of Yazidi friends in the United Kingdom who ensured this genocide will not be overlooked and forgotten.”

In the U.K., the determination is also important as over 900 British citizens joined Daesh in Syria and Iraq and participated in the atrocities. As such, it is a crucial element of establishing the truth regarding the events and facing often uncomfortable questions. Now that the atrocities are recognized for what they are, it is critical to explore what else needs to be done to ensure justice and accountability, including investigating and prosecuting the perpetrators for their involvement in the genocide (and not for terror-related offenses only). Furthermore, as recommended by Pieter Omtzigt, PACE Special Rapporteur on bringing Daesh to justice, is it pivotal to revive the attempts to establish an international tribunal for the crimes of Daesh fighters, to ensure that the trials have the necessary transparency and visibility to make a difference.

Furthermore, more must be done to support the community. To this day, over 2,700 Yazidi women and children are missing and there have been no international actions to find and rescue them. To this day, thousands of Yazidi people live in camps and cannot return home and resettlement options are severely limited. Until this day, the communities are not provided with the assistance they need, and even the limited support gets smaller by the day.

The determination of atrocities as genocide is not an end in itself. Action must follow and action in accordance with the obligations under the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and actions that help the community not only to survive the attempt to annihilate them, but to flourish.