At the twenty-eighth session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Society for the Prevention Association of Social Harms (P.A.S.H.) issued a statement on the need to protect ethnic and religious minorities in Iraq and Syria, read out by the representative of the Association at the scene of the Council:

 

Mr. President

The actions of ISIL in Iraq and Syria smells the ambition to get an ethnic and religious cleansing. Ethnic and religious minorities, including Christians, Yazidis, Kurds and Turkmens, especially women and children, are targets of massacre, torture, looting, destruction of property, compulsory change of religion and inaccessibility to basic human services. Thousands of women and girls were raped, physically abused, sexually abducted and trafficked, and many have been obliged into forced marriages with terrorists.

The destruction of cultural heritages and places of worship, sanctuaries and other important religious buildings, obliging religious and ethnic minorities and residents to forced displacement, creating public scare with the massacre of prisoners and attacking civilian groups in a wider range. The brutal crackdown on ethnic and religious minorities, Shiites and even traditional groups who refuse to accept ISIL rules is another flash of the group's criminal activities.

 

Mr. President

The ISIL crimes in Iraq and Syria, along with the increasing violations of the rights of minorities, genocide and ethnic cleansing, are a clear indication of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

As a non-governmental human rights organization, we call on all religions and religious leaders to condemn ISIL's genocide, including massacres, rape, sexual slavery, flogging, cross-killing, torture and hostage-taking. We also ask the international community to do its utmost to protect civilians and vulnerable minorities.