Alannah Travers

On 11th December, Dr Inna Rudolf, Mirza Dinnayi, Sarah Sanbar and myself will be speaking at King's College London on the situation for the Yazidi community (and other minorities). I will cover the UNITAD mess more candidly, as well as the struggles with and among NGOs working on justice and accountability issues in Iraq. Also online!

Important Amnesty investigation into how Iraqis are being subjected to torture and other ill-treatment as well as enforced disappearance after being arrested in the Jeddah Rehabilitation Centre in northern Iraq (run by the MoMD with the support of several other Iraqi ministries, the UN – including IOM, UNICEF, UNHCR, UNFPA, WHO and WFP – and others), also touching on the false accusations and wrongful arrests that Iraqis already know are all too common, and tearing families apart still.

The symposium will showcase the findings of Dr Sana Murrani's latest project on Yazidi displacement, fostering collaborative discussions among academics and practitioners to improve policymaking concerning displacement and settlement in Iraq, as well as migration in the UK for Yazidis.

As the mandate of UNITAD—the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh/ISIL—draws to a close on September 17, two competing narratives are almost certain to emerge. In an effort to explain the lack of prosecutions resulting from UNITAD’s work—just nine prosecutions for crimes against humanity and genocide have resulted from this data collection, mostly in Germany but also earlier this year in Portugal—proponents of UNITAD will likely cast the Iraq state as the primary obstacle in achieving justice, blaming Iraqi authorities for failing to meet international standards and the Government of Iraq for requesting the end of UNITAD’s mandate from the UN Security Council (UNSC) last year. In Baghdad, officials will continue to criticize UNITAD for withholding critical evidence and failing to collaborate effectively with Iraqi authorities, as was explicitly outlined in the original UNITAD mandate. The reality will lie somewhere between the country’s remaining displacement camps, informal settlements, and shattered lives.

مع انتهاء تفويض بعثة "يونيتاد"، أي "فريق التحقيق التابع للأمم المتحدة لتعزيز المساءلة عن الجرائم المرتكبة من جانب تنظيم "داعش"، يجب على جميع الأطراف المعنية تقييم القيود التي واجهتها المنظمة فيما يتعلق بما تمكنت من تحقيقه لضحايا جرائم "داعش، بعد سبع سنوات.

The Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights and the Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR) have jointly submitted a report to the 4th Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The report addresses Iraq’s efforts to deliver justice and reparations to survivors of the ISIL conflict.

This submission was prepared for the fourth cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Iraq.

"As well as structural reasons preventing the return of many Yezidi children from Syria, such as lack of identity papers or official registration, it is important to acknowledge that many Yezidis still do not embrace the return of these children born out of rape, and often argue that all accused IS fighters should be executed, even if the evidence of their crimes is questionable or the result of torture in the context of Iraq's highly problematic judicial system. Expert interview with Alannah Travers, 20 March 2024."

Ten years after ISIS committed atrocities against the Yazidi community and other minorities in the country, survivors' needs remain largely unmet.

Our joint report featuring 10 demands of survivors, a decade after the genocide. By the Coalition for Justice Reparations (C4JR) with the Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights, SEED Foundation, and Yazda.

Sinjar, Iraq – To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the genocide committed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIL) against minorities including the Yazidi, Christian, Shabak, Turkmen and other communities in Iraq, the Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR) along with the Jiyan Foundation for Human Rights, SEED Foundation, and Yazda, publishes our joint report featuring 10 demands of survivors, a decade after the genocide.

"While financial assistance was stated to be available to these families, many families never received this." [Travers and al-Khatib]

“If implemented strategically, the Amnesty Law could also serve as a crucial step toward national reconciliation. By addressing past and present grievances, the legislation could help mend the social fabric torn by years of conflict and violence. This, in turn, could promote long-term stability and peace in the country,” Alannah Travers, a researcher and consultant working on these issues with organizations including the Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR), told The New Region on Tuesday.

On today’s Day of International Criminal Justice, the Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR) wishes to draw attention to recent concerning rulings and urge the government of Iraq to pass legislation which incorporates international crimes in domestic legislation, rather than simply referring to it in sentencing. This legal reform is essential to ensure justice for all victims of ISIL atrocities and to uphold the principles of international law.

Monthly Humanitarian Evidence and Discourse Summaries aim to signpost FCDO and other UK government departments to the latest relevant evidence and discourse on humanitarian action.

"At a time when the Kurdish government, in northern Iraq, claimed to be eliminating gas flaring — the climate-damaging practice that was also exposing nearby Syrian refugee camps to toxic chemicals — this high-achieving investigation revealed that flaring was continuing unabated... One judge said the stories gave them chills."

Alannah Travers is a British-German journalist for Al Jazeera and other media, and was a consultant based in Iraq between 2021 and 2023. She has recently been processing her Middle East experiences by hiking the circular 1,200-kilometer Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage. She will discuss her humanitarian and reporting work in Iraq and Kurdistan and her recent pilgrimage to Shikoku at a special dinner event at the Foreign Correspodents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ).

Award-winning Human Rights Journalist and Shikoku Pilgrim 6:00pm to 8:30pm Tuesday, July 9, 2024 The speaker will discuss her humanitarian and reporting work in Iraq and Kurdistan and her recent pilgrimage to Shikoku. She will also take questions during this dinner event.