It’s pretty much a disservice to refer to Human Rights Lawyer Amal Clooney as ‘George Clooney’s wife’ because what she is doing merits consideration, whether her spouse is nifty behind the film camera or not.
Clooney is standing up for the Yazidi community in Iraq and Syria who were attacked and slaughtered en masse back in 2014, many of whom are still displaced. Over 5,000 Yazidis were killed and they have been reeling ever since.
Even Yazidi villages that have been liberated from ISIS, such as Sinjar, are so decimated they remain uninhabited.
In an interview with NBC News, Clooney explained why she is calling for the international community to act – actually, that’s pretty sanitized version of events. It was more like a smackdown where she told the world’s top diplomats it’s time to prosecute ISIS for their crimes.
This has been a challenge because, according to NBC, the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction:
‘The ICC was set up in 2002 to prosecute crimes against humanity, but because Syria and Iraq are not members, the court says it cannot investigate unless Iraq invites it in or the U.N. Security Council sanctions an investigation. The Security Council has taken such an action only twice before, for crimes in Darfur in 2005 and Libya in 2011.’
Clooney’s powerful speech was an indictment on the lack of action to help so far.
“I think the international community should be ashamed that they haven’t done more for the Yazidis,”
She has taken on the case of a 23 year old Yazidi woman named Nadia Murad, who suffered under ISIS captivity for three months before finally escaping.
To really gain some perspective on how astounding the lack of action has been, imagine after 9/11 if the United States Government didn’t bother to talk to any survivors, gather evidence, clean up the crime scene, or even attempt to prosecute those responsible.
That’s what’s happening in Iraq and Syria right now. Over 3,000 Yazidis are still thought to be alive and held captive by ISIS, likely as sex slaves.
Check out Clooney’s interview here.