German parliament recognises Yazidi ‘genocide’ in Iraq

BERLIN: Germany’s lower house of parliament recognised on Thursday the 2014 massacre of Yazidis by the militant Islamic State group in Iraq as a “genocide”, and called for measures to assist the besieged minority.

In a move hailed by Yazidi community representatives, deputies in the Bundestag passed the motion by the three parliamentary groups in Germany’s ruling centre-left-led coalition and conservative MPs.

The chamber “recognises the crimes against the Yazidi community as genocide, following the legal evaluations of investigators from the United Nations,” the resolution said, after similar moves by countries including Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands.

The text condemns “indescribable atrocities” and “tyrannical injustice” carried out by IS fighters “with the intention of completely wiping out the Yazidi community”.

The motion urges the German judicial system to pursue further criminal cases against suspects in Germany and the government to increase financial support to collect evidence of crimes in Iraq and boost funding to help rebuild shattered Yazidi communi-ties.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2023