The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Naeem Al-Aboudi, chaired the symposium on strengthening accountability efforts for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed by the terrorist ISIS, in the presence of the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, his Special Adviser, and the head of the UN investigation team, Mr. Christian Richer.

The symposium was attended by the Undersecretary of the Ministry for Administrative Affairs, Dr. Adnan Ibrahim Abd, representatives of the departments, the head of support and support in the UNITAD team, Judge Qassem Sajit, and a number of members of the international team, as well as specialists from Iraqi universities.

In his speech, the Minister of Education confirmed that the investigation team established by Security Council Resolution No. 2379 (2017) to strengthen accountability efforts for ISIS crimes represents an important part of the process of documenting the crimes and genocides committed by ISIS in Iraq and the destruction of archaeological, religious and cultural sites and the use of prohibited weapons. and smuggling of wealth and other crimes from which Iraq is still suffering.

He praised the efforts of the United Nations Investigation Team (UNITAD) and indicated at the same time that the Ministry of Education and its academic staff specialized in criminal law and international law are ready to cooperate and cooperate with the efforts made by the international team in order to criminalize the perpetrators of these crimes and bring them to local and international courts to receive their punishment, explaining that the Ministry of Higher Education and Research Al-Alamy worked on the basis of her national missions to restore life to educational institutions in the liberated governorates after their reconstruction, to hold conferences and workshops to address the psychological effects left by the crimes committed by the terrorist organization, and to benefit from the expertise provided by the United Nations programs for the rehabilitation of the areas psychologically and socially.

In this context, the head of the UN team, Mr. Christian Richer, presented a presentation of the tasks of the investigation team, which has been collecting evidence, information and documents related to the crimes committed by ISIS in Iraq, analyzing them and classifying them as war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Mr. Christian indicated that the UN team is working in partnership with Iraqi judicial and academic institutions in order to strengthen efforts to pursue the perpetrators of these horrific crimes and bring them to justice.

For his part, the Undersecretary of the Ministry for Administrative Affairs, Dr. Adnan Ibrahim Abd, confirmed during the symposium that coordination with the international team for accountability for ISIS crimes will enhance joint efforts in order to pass special legislation to look into ISIS crimes and to form special courts for those crimes.

At the end of the symposium, professors, experts and researchers participating in the symposium presented constructive interventions to enhance the work of the international team and develop an effective strategy to support these efforts and provide them with national academic expertise.

Department of Media and Government Communication

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research