Iraq has asked the UN to assist it with gathering evidence of crimes committed by the Islamic State group and said it was working with Britain to draft a Security Council resolution to establish an investigation.
In a letter dated August 9 but given to the press Wednesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari, congratulating his country's army on its "brilliant military victories" against the militant force that once controlled vast swaths of Iraqi territory, said IS was guilty of "crimes against humanity."
He requested assistance of the international community to investigate IS crimes. "In this regard, the Republic of Iraq and the United Kingdom are working on a draft resolution," he said in the English-language statement.
Britain's deputy ambassador Jonathan Allen confirmed the move, adding: "We are going to work with them and with our partners in the Security Council to bring forward a resolution that will achieve just that, leaving no hiding place for Daesh anywhere," using the Arabic acronym for IS.
He declined to specify a timeline for the resolution.
British human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who has advocated for the rights of Iraq's Yazidi religious minority which suffered mass killings as well as sexual enslavement by IS, said: "Yazidis and other ISIS victims want justice in a court of law and they deserve nothing less," using another acronym for the group.
"I hope that the Iraqi government's letter will mark the beginning of the end of impunity for genocide and other crimes that ISIS is committing in Iraq and around the world."