Legislative Committee meets with Yazda Yazidi organiziation and UNITAD on Bill on Special Court for Crimes of ISIS

Kurdistan Parliament’s Legislative Committee on 16 June held a meeting with UNITAD and Yazda, a multi-national Yazidi NGO, to discuss the Bill on the Special Court in Kurdistan Region - Iraq for Crimes by ISIS. Ms. Natia Navrovs Yazda’s legal investigator, and Christopher Gosnell UNITAD’s senior legal officer, were among the participants.

The meeting was led by the Legislative Committee chair, Dr. Bizhar Kochar (KDP).

Dr. Kochar said that since receiving the bill from the KRG, Kurdistan Parliament has held its first reading and has worked hard to improve and refine the bill so that at the court, justice will be served for the victims and survivors of ISIS’s crimes.

He added that to ensure that the court will have all the proper means and procedures to hold the perpetrators to account, Parliament’s of Presidency and the legislative committee have held many meetings with relevant bodies in the Kurdistan Regional Government and with the consuls and representatives of other countries.

They have also consulted with legal experts and academics to get their opinions on the bill and improve it.

The committee chair reviewed many articles of the bill with Yazda and the UNITAD representative, and he emphasized that cooperation from international organizations is important in order to gain international support for the establishment of the court.

Ms. Navrovs and Mr. Gosnell greatly appreciated the Kurdistan Parliament’s efforts, said that they want to work with Parliament on the bill. They stressed that the suffering of the survivors should be taken into account not only in the bill and from a legal perspective, but should also be shown to humanity.