Paul Keenan
Iraq Fianna Fáil’s spokesperson on Foreign Affairs has said he intends to press the Government on having the genocidal actions of so-called Islamic State (ISIS) referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Speaking to The Irish Catholic this week, and as the world marked World Refugee Day, Brendan Smith TD said Ireland “should be relentless” in pushing member states of the United Nations to call for ISIS to be brought to task at the ICC for its genocide of Christians and other communities in the Middle East.
“Much more needs to be done,” Mr Smith said. “We need to be pressing home the case for referral.”
Having previously issued a call in the Dáil last April to have Ireland declare the actions of ISIS as genocide, Mr Smith said he would “urge the Minister for Foreign Affairs to enlist the support of his European colleagues” towards a unified drive at the United Nations. “Acting as one is very important, and the international community needs to act as one on this issue,” he said, describing the daily reports of ISIS actions from Syria and Iraq as “horrific”.
Deputy Smith’s comments come fully two years after the rise of so-called Islamic State and the onset of its purge of Christians and other minorities in pursuit of its caliphate. Two years on, religious leaders in Syria and Iraq have lamented the lack of coordinated action on the part of the international community to the suffering of minority communities. Meanwhile, United Nations war crimes investigators this week called on world leaders to bring renewed pressure to bear on the warring sides in Syria to return to the negotiating table.