such distinction, and i'm proud suggests it was formed on to call him friend. march 27, 2011. ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the u.s. ambassador for appointed to this committee his international religious freedom, brother, he appointed the head the honorable david saperstein. said that for security agencies, [applause] military intelligence, air force intelligence, political security. >> it's an honor to hold this the head of the national position, tom, and it's an honor security bureau which to be a to address this coordinated these intelligence distinguished group of leaders. bodies since the will of his father. i will say in the entire work he also pointed to minister of interior and minister of since i've been part of it from defense. the beginning, the three each of these men -- and a few constants in all of my work have other ad hoc members. been tom farr, frank wolf and they coordinated response is then shared information down chris smith, two of whom who are here today and they are both great heroes in the cost for religious freedom. passing than the orders that so thank you for what you do. they craft in which the policies and i want to thank the they craft did and sent back to religious freedom project at the berkeley center for cosponsoring this meeting today and part of them for implementation through our ongoing a productive these multiple parallel chains partnership with you, tom, and

with rfp. soever and had the same information and is working the project does serious work towards the same coordinated into they were talking most ends. series of topics. there was an obsession with so your excellencies, your coordination you would find each graces, fellow ambassadors, ways and gentlemen and i can say with province, each of the 14 provinces had its own security a great deal of pride, a lot of committee which is made up of friends in this room, i deeply roughly the equivalent and these honored to be here. men would then pass their many of you have missed your lives to help victims of daesh meetings and report directly up files. to change and they would be getting meetings and reports what many others have spent your lives fighting against the from the districts in the subdistricts to the extent were hateful ideologies of intolerance that fueled daesh rise which you've done amongst in one of the doctrines i was very vital ways by forging going through while working on this story, there is a reference interreligious coalitions to from heads of the crisis ticket promote human rights, tolerance and inclusiveness and peace, to report from 350 miles outside both here in the united states of damascus and its cure road and across the globe, and in the between dinner served and his lack of providence. near east. too many of you are victims of it is a report from intelligence agency that they have found daesh or groups like it. graffiti that says down with the as we all know on march 17,

secretary of state john kerry who cares about this issue shower -- bashar al-assad. deeply made the historic announcement that he and his this is sent to one of the members to send back judgment daesh, encoding, daesh instructions to find the responsible for genocide against perpetrator of this crime and they spent a month looking for him and then send back story we groups in areas under its tried but we couldn't find him. control including yazidis, this is how linked and how christians and shia muslims. well-informed the guys at the he said that daesh is quote also top were to the crimes on the responsible for crimes against ground. the crackdown occurs i'm not humanity and ethnic cleansing, directed at the same groups and going to go through the history in some cases against sunni of the crackdown. muslims, kurds, other minorities. you all know the system of he put it plainly when he said, oppression that followed in the early months, the targeting of daesh's genocidal by self proclamation, by ideology and by protesters for arresting actions in what it says, what he believes, what it does. detention. it focuses not just on what happened in the arrest and detention facilities, but the the fact is that daesh kills christians because they are actual policy to target certain categories of people who were then tortured and murdered in christians, yazidis because they are yazidis, she of because they these facilities. are she. in the report to congress we these came from a meeting of the

crisis on august 5th, 27 from deservedly describe daesh's which they have been meeting and has been not only an original abuses in the starkest terms we forms of reference other could, not a terribly difficult task given the heinous documents as they were sent down the chain of command as orders for implementation. atrocities daesh continues to perpetrate against so many. this policy was targeted certain amongst those we named were categories for the unlawful worst displacement, interrogation. forced religious conversions, this is a direct quote. those who tarnish the image of slavery, kidnapping, syria and foreign media. trafficking, sexual violence resulting in widescale so you have the crimes against fatalities and injuries, victims including women and children humanity that then follow her in come from across the spectrum of ethnic and religious groups, the course of the implementation of this repressive but not including yazidis, sunni necessarily criminal plan and muslims, shia muslims, christians, turkmen, shabaab, talk about command control responsibility but international chi chi, among others. daesh have used public criminal into account the highest level perpetrators are

present at the scene of the crime that they are responsible beheadings, kidnappings, rape, for the systematic and widespread atrocities and forced sexual slavery. perpetrated by their employed child soldiers from amongst his own recruits as well subordinates. as capture children. daesh continues to attack places the last line of the targeting of worship, schools and public policy in the crisis instruction spaces. this assessment along with instructeinstructe d mid-level statements by the use house of security agents to supply to that of the national security representatives, european bureau list of names who parliament, the council of your parliamentarian assembly and appeared resolute or an enthusiastic in performing others has helped focus global duties and said they had to get attention on the plight of results. religious and ethnic minorities what you find when you interview thousands of detainees who have under daesh, but these most become more than just survived by the u.n. commission statements. there must be actions to of inquiry's and hundreds interviewed by the seashell. i focus for narrative purposes implement the goals to all of us on one who suffered the share in common. secretary kerry in his statement challenge the world to quote find resources to help those testimony and also to the cesar suffering from these atrocities. last week's conference, and this files which you will hear more about good from hospital six to conference of the allegations one where he was detained and

tortured further. from 30 countries and international organizations in the course of interrogations of detainees who were kept for gathered today and in a closed meeting tomorrow are focused on months, sometimes years and producing those financial, absolutely inhumane conditions, political and programmatic conditions for 10 or 11 or 12, resources. so at the conference last week, 13 people held in a single solitary can admit to for weeks in additional $590 million was at a time. pledged for humanitarian assistance. conditions wear and a 10-meter by three-meter room there might be more than 100 people living $350 million pledged for together for meant and meant. critical stabilization efforts. under the new u.n. program, the people who die of suffocation. people at die of various diseases going on facilities. financial facility for immediate people die when guys at stabilization, 125 million arbitrarily abused them and they pledged. and for the new program that is would get in fact did. the nature program, the eventually after however long it mid-length program, the took the guards to get, they would be taken to run financial facility for expanded specifically for interrogation stabilization, the united states in these interrogation committees were part of the crisis sales plan as loud from begin the pledging with $50 million of its own with many the meeting minutes. others promising that they would

come back with the pledges from the country. once in interrogation and they would he interrogated over the and 200 billion already pledged in 2017, 2018, much more to come. various questions listed in the 80 million just for the day targeting policy of the crisis mining that is so vital. so it felt and when people so we are convening these meetings today and tomorrow to wouldn't admit to various crimes they hardened time, for try to answer that call, to find instance, a protest organizer ways to better assess religious admitted to having your commands and ethnic minorities in iraq and series you. what we are learning from the are a test after his legs were burned by cigarettes. conversations we've already had he admitted to sending it is a the rich conversations that are protest of al jazeera after promised in the rest of the being further tortured. there is insufficient because afternoon here will be vital to the system of pressures put on our deliberations tomorrow. we are deeply appreciative. i have to say, tom, where is these ages a departure result than they needed to be able to tom? i have to say, tom, that you folks give great conferences. create this veneer of a judicial process which meant a coerced this really has been one of the confession system to much more serious crimes. most fascinating, rich, and he was tortured in ways i fruitful conversations that i've don't -- you describe your bed been part of it i really want to are in the article if you want to read it, to the point where thank you for the extraordinary effort that you have done.

he admitted to terrorism crimes state department special advisor for religious minorities in the that he hadn't done in this near east and south central happened across the country because the intelligence agents asia, our effort is in partnership with france, spain is doing the entire result than and jordan as a follow-up to the french led initiative by former they themselves would end up not often happen. foreign minister lorraine there were numerous intelligence fabius. to be clear, why we are deep agencies became seizures, witnesses because they too were concern to all who have suffered tortured in detention. under daesh's reign of terror, at the same time as this for having not carried out their conference represents, we duties with enough force. i will close with saying that recognize a particular existential threat that daesh presents to minority macs are a good step in the communities. we have seen such forces at work in iraq, the yazidi christian process was once they had been coerced into confessing to these kinds after a few more months of and some of the shia communities are under enormous pressure to survive under daesh genocide detention with the writeups that efforts. their confession. iraq's once vibrant communities often they would have these documents while blindfolded. struggle daily under daesh they had no chance to read that they were confessing to.

those released because sympathetic judges on them. efforts and ethnic cleansing, some virtually extinct in their homeland. so we gather to fight for he showed torture all of his religious freedom for all. body, broken ribs and his torso we strongly support religious freedom not only because it is a core basic fundamental universal and the judge to pity on him and human rights, but also because let him go. respect for religious freedom is judges would then send them to prisons where they would be done because they've confessed to the instrumental to peace, security and development around the world. crimes that have judicial donation to fulfill its process for which they can be potential if its people are detained the philly for however denied the right to exercise the many years. right of freedom of religion or so this is a case they built belief nor can it have the stability that is the sine qua from internal machine document non for peace, prosperity, advancement, strong democracy if and from hundreds of witness interviews and the key thing in the nation is riven by sectarian terms of prosecution is pinning violence and its members of some these kinds on individual criminal was on stability which groups simply because of their they can trace through this religious identity of practices are declared functionally or by document straight up to the very law to be second-class citizens. top. all that does is drive religious [applause]

life underground resulted in >> ambassador stephen rapp take frustration, despair and anger, providing fertile ground with seeds of violent extremism can be stowed and followers the podium. over my shoulder is a monitor recruited, and supported. that is a compilation of the furthermore, as this conference illustrates, just looking around the room and listening to the investigation and is two stories diverse views from the questions from courtesy of himself and his and comments from the floor, work with "the new yorker." this gathering testifies to the we have some of the cesar photos power of what happens when which have been provided but people of different backgrounds, different perspectives, permission by human rights watch different identities come as well as a couple other aerial together with a common purpose, shots to show you the general context of what these two as the richest americans, contribution to the world. gentlemen are speaking about today. ambassador. this nation that sociologists tell us embodies 2000 different >> thank you, andrew and for the washington institute for holding religions, denominations and this or agreement for bringing us back to the issue of the mass faith groups, all across atrocities and the ways in which america. and our inability to live we can build for the day to together in comedy and to forge horrendous crimes held to common interface approaches to account.

we had a war going on since the the problems that face us, it's uprising became a conflict in a rich model for others but we late 2011, and syria for almost do so not just by its five years and hundreds of effectiveness, because of the thousands have taken to this fundamental reality that in any country, in any society, if any ease and the road and where they group can be persecuted, then all are endangered. there cannot be safety and were firmly secure and seeking security for the religious freedoms of some groups if refuge elsewhere. others are denied. doing it not just because this that requires sometimes is a conflict and all conflicts compromises of how to proceed together, finding common ground even amongst our differences. caused injuries to the civilian population. this is a conflict fought with tragically daesh and other violent extremist groups in iraq the commission of mass and syria continued target atrocities in a way that has members of religious and ethnic made life in the area for the minority with violence, women vast majority of the population from all communities and daesh simply intolerable and worth taking enormous risk to escape occupied areas are subject to severe restrictions on freedom m those horrors with their of movement, employment, address, often trapped indoors families. out of fear for personal safety. sunni muslims who disagree with i really want to salute bands

these terrorist extremist were on these two stories in religious interpretations to "the new yorker" and work closely with him. justify their bloodthirsty power i remember visiting the former seeking have also suffered barbaric violence. throughout the areas controlled office in brussels and i think he was there two weeks poring over documents. by daesh, religious, cultural if everyone wants to end the and historical sites actually with people of many faiths and careers journalists and become a cultures have been prosecutor, i think you'd be a systematically looted and destroyed. great asset on any team. the latter of these is lead to meticulously putting together the information that is air, daesh selling price of which as i said and was quoted antiquities, to restock their coffers. in response we are pursuing multiple efforts to assist by him is frankly so much more minority communities including overwhelming than the kind of documentation of atrocities, evidence that were responsible for the genocide in rwanda or accountability for perpetrators the massive trust these of this unlawful violence, committed in bosnia or in other services of survivors, crime scene -- atrocity crime scenes across the world. gender-based violence, reservation of cultural heritage and inclusive peace building. the biggest evidence of it and the one i continue to have we want to re-create the contact with is the evidence conditions were religious and from the so-called user files ethnic minorities feel confident in their future in iraq and and i was pleased to see cesar saad. recently in the that he's in our vision is of a sovereign good shape, but a 44 page -- united iraq in which these historic communities can remain

in and return to their ancestral homes in safety, dignity and posterity. that is continue to cooperate with accountability. and so to our vision, for a i continue to salute his bravery series that is a democratic and the bravery of all these nonsectarian pluralistic. other individuals, that rot out that is the goal. and now that the demands of the the solid documentation. his is some of the most government of iraq and impressive that i have feathers mean. international community must still be far greater than the he was a career police, military resources currently available, police investigator who took what are we doing to achieve that goal? pictures of crime scenes and 2011 he is in his role together what progress is being made? with a team of 10 others and so let me list some of the photographing the scores and answers to that question. hundreds of bodies that are first and foremost, daesh must dumped at a hospital every day. be defeated and the efforts of the government of iraq, during the course of the time from late 2011 until he defected opposition forces in syria, august 2013 at great risk to together with a 67 member counter isil coalition are conducting a robust campaign of himself and his family, his coordinated airstrikes, military group took more than 50,000 training and assistance, diplomatic engagement and photos. .. cooperation, and messaging coordination to degrade,

delegitimize and defeat daesh. ... the coalition has conducted more than 14,000 airstrikes against daesh anorak in syria eliminating thousands of its fighters, cutting off key communication hubs and saad routes, significant weakening daesh finances. so for several daesh's production of oil has declined by about 30%, their ability to generate revenue in general in the areas under their control has been reduced by at least that much. strikes on cash historic sites >> and organs have been removed, have destroyed tens of millions people aviserated and that is of daesh's cash. the amazing thing. we also work to cut off the illicit sale of antiquities. the regime and department sent due to the increasing financial orders and medical professionals came down and held cards in front of each of the body with pressure, daesh's reported cutting its fighters paid by the number of the individual and half in some areas, turned to increasingly arbitrate taxation the facility in which the person and extortion rackets to raise funds for the undermine its credibility. and increasing desertions. was tortured. efforts to support iraqi forces they went through computers and military defense than on the

indexed it by the date and ground have resulted in daesh being pushed out for nearly half facility in which this person of the territory it once held in had died. iraq, about 20% of what it held earlier in syria which brought military power to bear to assist religious minorities directly as well. most of you know, airstrikes in august 2014 to relieve the seek associated with state security from mt. sinjar that saved the or military intelligence and lives of thousands of yazidis. the airstrikes in march 2015 since that time some 760 of them that enabled a syrian kurdish defense forces to reverse a have been identified. ... daesh advanced in the river valley. that threaten predominately syrian christian villages. danger still exists as all of us know. we have seen recently with the multiple attacks in syria, the most recent in june targeted patriarchate -- the second head of the orthodox church.

assyrian church of the east bishop, on the commemoration of an atrocity committed 100 years ago. the attack on the clergy was thankfully unsuccessful, but tragically three guards were killed. generals, too many are still suffering. yazidi women and children still held in captivity. buildings are eyed peas, and we keep doing our business displays, mourning the lives of the loss of the loved ones in 2015 but it was impossible to because of daesh's reign of live. that is why they have taken to terror, but we are making progress in defeating daesh and the road and people who got pushing them out, liberating territories mostly yazidi and muslim majority areas but we killed, we talked about our look forward to the future friend who managed to survive liberation of lance belonging to and i saw him again ten days ago christians and other indigenous communities, and that it is continuing to fight this fight, approaching. wanting to put himself forward second, even while we need to secure the rights and publicly and news footage working at this time with a opportunities, we must it was

the condition of members of displaced communities who we are documentary crew, and broken, asking to wait until they can seems like his arms are on safely return. until then they need stability, backwards but continues to talk a quality of life, a feeling of personal security that provides about his experiences and he described multiple times he was them with a willingness to remain in the country. an oil engineer in the oil and return to their homes when business in the eastern part of they decide to do so. we need help to ensure that their kids have schools to go the country who became a secular to, jobs when they graduate him and economic opportunities for famous. protester who was on his way to we are engaging efforts to ensure that those who survived a deliver milk formula, trying to daesh's abuse in captivity are provided support including risk it. psychological and health services, that they need to he describes a random situation recover the resilience as well happening inside the facility as the livelihood opportunities but periodically amnesty would to support their families and be announced and they would be themselves, to rebuild their the jihadi's as they reinforce lives. we are taking action to the gender-based violence emergency response and protection isis and create the deception initiative which provides funds that it is the between the devil for immediate medical, and the deep blue sea, even his psychological and social support to survivors of gender-based

violence including those subjected to daesh's brutal treatment. release policy emphasizing the we acknowledge that these real enemies are the secular, services may not yet have reached the victims in a number moderate physicians in this of areas, and w we're trying all country. he didn't want to talk about the the time to support ngos that are involved in providing these bombardment and as an services and much wider areas. international prosecutor it is this fund is a public-private easier in terms of the detention partnership that can accept contributions from other countries. we are providing support for facilities with individuals in implementation of iraq's the intelligence service and the national action plan on women, president of the republic to be peace and security. one more example. frank and down through the chain the united states provide of command in these facilities $18 million in fiscal year 2015, because these are state facilities and great notice of continuing this year, to the international organization for migration. what is going on and one of the the iom, an iraq, to provide easier cases are prosecuted in live support for vulnerable international justice cases involving bombardment are more difficult because we know in a displaced iraqis, conduct rapid response and assessments of newly displaced populations, conflict where civilians are present among insurgents that complete community led programs there will be civilian casualties.

it is unavoidable. starting to reduce tensions come and enhance decoration through in fact the approach the syrians its community revitalization program. have taken has been so direct i think most of you know the challenges that the displaced and targeted toward civilian communities face in terms of the provisions of schools for their objects and humanitarian objects that the case is actually also a kids. as part of this program iowa and very strong one. has been able to expand and renovate seven primary and secondary schools throughout the iraqi kurdistan region which been in his other article, very pleased to be on their board, doing great work in this area, will allow thousands of idp and they documented the number of medical professionals killed host community children access to education. which is reached 700 by the this is an important start. regime. isis on the other hand, 27, to much more needs to be done in this regard. obviously, the liberation of most of will produce enormous some extent even though isis new challenges -- mosul. crimes tend to be much more visible to us indicates some proportion of the crimes we are this was addressed in our talking about in syria. that is all rebel groups. earlier conversation. the most recent information they have you can see on the website, that challenge, those challenges some of the killings of doctors must be addressed in the planning that is taking place along with the military planning

or the caesar photos that have your throughout the region been arrested and tortured, people like an orthopedic ngos, humanitarian organizations will need rapid, surgeon from london who ended up safe, unhindered access to populations in need. but especially in iraq and the murdered by the regime. not always in bombing but in the bombings there have been 291 kurdish regions. as undp deputy for iraq has attacks on those facilities and reported, the campaign to free personnel by syrian government mosul from isil control could forces and 45 by russian and adversely affect well over a million people in the short term, and this would make it one of the largest humanitarian syrian bombing raids together, 24 operations by the opposition, crises of recent times. one is documented to be a the kurdistan regional government already posts to more coalition strike that i'm sure than 1 million idp is released this plan to support five new they would argue unintentionally had a medical facility but the cameras supported by the way in which they are conducting international community that can it is through a form of siege house up to 420,000 people. unhcr seeking funding that ended anticipates it will work with warfare. it is a crime to besiege a the krg to build them. civilian area, to cut off food they need sufficient resources for all these efforts because, and medical supplies, to

as you know, up until july 20, just last week, only 41% of intentionally target medical ambulances. humanity needs identified either been was describing how ambulances show the red cross and red crescent, now they go u.n.'s 2016 iraq humanitarian around in muddy vehicles because response plan were funded as of they know if they are in a white vehicle is known as the that day. so we convened a pledging humanitarian mission, they will conference for iraq last week in washington, and following up be among the first targets. with this conference, focus on it is so much more dangerous to restoration of liberated communities. as i noted last week, as i noted be a civilian, to be earlier, lessig our humanitarian actor than it is to international partners pledged be a soldier or a rebel. now we have reports, if you saw over $2 billion for humanitarian the report from my friend roy efforts de-mining, stabilization. goodman who won a pulitzer in which will help meet the needs of the millions of iraqis who have been displaced or otherwise 1993, he has done a great deal affected by isil violence. of time in syria, he wrote on including our contribution that we announced last week, the sunday what he read which many read as the threat by vladimir united states has provided more than 914 million in humanitarian putin and russia to employ the assistance for vulnerable iraqis in iraq and in the region since grozny rules, a declaration get

october 2013. in addition we have contributed out or you are all dead. more than 5.1 billion for conflict affected serious since this is part of why they the start of the crisis including more than two put 8 million inside syria alone to provide emergency food announced with humanitarian fanfare that they were opening assistance, tax assistance for up these core doors for people emergency needs, funding for shelters, much-needed counseling to lead. we know the history of these and protection programs to the core doors, the dangers of most vulnerable, including children, women, persons with disabilities and the elderly. people being pulled away from those that may be leaving, families separated, the absence the result of these conferences will play an essential role in closing the gaps between the of a safe place to go at the end of the root but it doesn't make any difference if it was an needs and resources into iraq. interstate highway by you and third, the areas liberated from blue helmets with well supplied daesh must be stabilized. providing security of which returning residents of all religions and ethnicities can rely. the coalition is trained, more dormitories at the other end, to make that kind of declaration and to turn around and target everybody that doesn't leave with indiscriminate bombing or unleashing brutal killers on the than 31,000 iraqi security ground is murder, a war crime, forces undertake an extensive police training mission in iraq also extermination is a crime under italian leadership to against humanity.

secure the areas liberated from we saw from grows knee and the daesh and to guarantee the presence of chechens, it does safety and security of displaced populations returning to their not destroy terrorists but homes. creates them and rather than we are seeking to expand this training program and as for other coalition partners to contribute to this effort. establishing the rule of law, we have also begun training there is criminal conduct, it is unthinkable that anyone could believe the vladimir putin the government was playing a defense forces for minority communities, specifically constructive role in syria or succeed against isis by a common yazidis and christian so far, which will be integrated into the peshmerga and/or other doi cause to go against that group. forces. individual russian leaders are fourth, minorities need to feel they have a greater voice in in danger being charged with their governance. respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, including assad war crimes, information freedom of religion for all from physicians but implementing the grozny rule and doing that religious groups is critical. kind of thing in aleppo, the largest city in syria would so is the president of equal threaten to make them direct citizenship and equal access to justice. perpetrators in crimes against takes us one small but important humanity. example which a number of you worked on. iraq had suspended religiously divisive changes in the

identification card law, and what does that all mean? where will people be held to account for these crimes. first of all i want to note the those changes should not be revisited. day of accountability will come. more broadly, the united states supports arrangements wherein minority of greater voice over how their communities are not talking about going to the icc. the idea of referring it governed within a federal supported by the united states governance framework. or 13 members of the un security you are doing this work, and we council in 2014, the referral to applaud you. the icc was blocked by russian the alliance of iraqi minoriti and chinese vetoes. minorities, a i am, one of the shining lights of human rights and good governance advocacy in it doesn't require an internationalized court or iraq worked with the minority future syrian court but that is caucus in the council of representatives, bad language, what we want to see, probably beginning in the 20 '12 budget represented in syria working law to provide for a legal foundation for the equitable with international partners. there is jurisdiction now to distribution of funds from iraq's regional and provincial prosecute these crimes and their budgets. perpetrators are coming within range of prosecutors with the they then worked with provincial councils and districts, jurisdiction and capacity to go subdistricts as well as different indigenous communities after them. first of all it is because of the documentation that has been to ensure those funds were used in specific public service projects such as health clinics, brought out, the work of my good

roads and schools. if, recovery. friends, 600,000 pages augmented members of displaced communities by several hundred thousand will not choose to return to their cities and towns if no livelihood opportunities exist, additional pages left by other organizations as well, close to 1 million pages of this kind of or the infrastructure and basic services remain devastated. documentation and it is quite impressive. there is liberated from daesh the other day we did a search, must a functioning infrastructure such as roads, electricity, sanitation affordable means for people to support their families, the mine it is not easy to do optical character recognition to see if there is any mention in 600,000 is absolutely critical if we open a different communities pages, we found a logbook. will return to their homes. the united states and international community are taking significant steps to continue expanding their support arrest him. for this daunting task, in iso- liberated areas. and it was quite moving to see and the pursuit of addressing that. these financial leads, these and suddenly became emotional because he said all the friends covered this last week and this arrested with me are dead. week are trying to lay out the i am the only survivor. resources that would be it is an amazing thing to find necessary to help in the recovery efforts.

six, it is a more to promote the documented order that began accountability for perpetrators this. of atrocities on all sides. the reason i was involved in this includes atrocities africa, fantastically strong perpetrated of course my daesh evidence was discovered against the president 10 years after he as well as but she is militants at the with the popular was overthrown, his hand on the mobilization forces who have committed abuses against instrument saying no one -- the documents about the torture, no civilians after areas have been one should be allowed to leave liberated from daesh. this prison alive. let's also focus on the wide variety of crimes committed. sexual and gender-based the strengths of that evidence created the dynamic to prosecute violence, mass killings and him and he was recently accountability and transitional sentenced to life in prison by a justice mechanisms must reflect mixed court in senegal establish with a partnership between the the needs of victims and us and the government of senegal communities. one size will not fit all. and the eu. to knit back together these when you have strong evidence communities these efforts must that is impossible to ignore you include formal and informal will find a way. forums of reconciliation and it is better than that. accountability. they must pursue high level prosecutions where possible, but there is criminal jurisdiction also address the accountability today in countries where some of of local and regional and the victims were national. national levels, for followers

you see an example of that, only and for leaders. in this effort documentation of atrocities is crucial. a civil lawsuit but it certainly because it preserves information for future accountability tells you what is coming. efforts and helps to identify the case brought by the center survivor needs and connect for justice in san francisco, an individuals with services. u.s. government is currently american citizen, one of the implementing a project that enables iraqi civil society to greatest journalists of her age document violations and abuses, murdered on 22 february 2012. create protocols and a a 33 page complaint and i urge you to go to it, they mind the repository for information gathered, it connects documentation efforts to local and national accountability undertakings. documents, they have identified to date, representatives from the responsible parties. bashar al-assad directly iraqi civil society organizations that are participating in this project responsible, the head of the fourth armored division, the have collected nearly 1000 narratives from victims and head of intelligence for the witnesses of atrocities committed in iraq. baath party directly responsible for her murder. many in the ngo community our specifically located where this country be as well to the journalism center was and compilation of narratives to

help in this cause. intentionally bombarded it, and syria the united states killed her and her french supports the series justice and accountability center. one of the premier syria and photographer and injured others that are still with us in lealedinstitutions heading this completing this documentation journalism. effort, works with partners with the lawsuit under the foreign its team on the ground to sovereign immunities act, collect documentation related to the conflict including extremely strong case, and interviews with former detainees witnessed testimony that that document torture and directly ties these individuals inhuman detention contention and and been successful relocating works directly with survivors of the families in other countries sexual and gender-based violence. another project provides support so they are secure to testify in to the identification, protection and excavation of other cases but this makes these mass graves. individuals also responsible for by collecting information about the sites, we reduce the chances murder under american law. the murder of an american of accidental or purposeful damage to them, and provide citizen is murder first-degree and the laws of the united important forensic information states, this opens up a possibility by a special case by to hold daesh accountable. the human rights prosecution division in the department of especially as the government of iraq and its partners continue justice. it already prosecuted people to liberate territory from daesh. in addition we have started to use satellite imagery to look like charles tainer junior.

for mass graves behind daesh the us attorney in miami prosecuted charles taylor junior front lines and syria and a right to the delegation from and sentenced to prison for 97 abroad who are participating in years. the conference have photographs these other cases that can be only satellite pictures in your packets. made. the french as well, as announced seven, relatedly to atrocities by the foreign minister in accountability, we must live with extraordinary attention january 2017 can prosecute these alluded to in our earlier individuals as well under their law and they have an open conversations that will accompany the return of displaced communities to their investigation. there is also these individuals homes and businesses that have are not turning up in washington been occupied in some cases like former neighbors, damaged or destroyed during the course of the violence. .. anytime soon and this creates a situation with 100 countries in the world where they can't safely go now until the day they die. and perpetrators are beginning to come out of syria, many negotiated the opposition. but we are working with a number of european prosecutors, you would be amazed at the tortures

must take the lead and reconciliation, and peacemaking. among the refugee population cycles of violence must end and that can be identified and pointed out by the survivors. it won't happen unless all of us are committed to making that a cases can be prosecuted under jurisdiction, crimes elsewhere, reality, even as accountability if a perpetrator is in your processes are pursued. otherwise there will be no peace country, prosecute the crime, i in the end. eighth, as part of its at cleansing the first, daesh -- was -- at the end of may, the dutch, the president of the european council of and on 29 decided the heritage when he may and against impunity, support the work of the european said it was responsible for crimes against humanity, but is also a crime against history. network. 32 countries whose prosecution my office has taken me and coordinating efforts in the field and i commend teams for units worked in conjunction with each other. they are already successfully his leadership in this regard and working with the smithsonian prosecuted persons for institution we are working with local communities in iraq to responsibility and rwandan genocide and other atrocities help them determine how they can best preserved their religious

and cultural heritage, including committed abroad and each working on syrian cases today. preserving churches, shrines, i want to be clear too, to those synagogues, mosques. in closing, i want to highlight the opportunity of mentions who might think the syrian several times to assist regime might be the wave of the future but the massive crimes minorities after liberation. they committed that led to the the creation of the u.n. greatest flow of refugees in development program's funding human history, we have more facility for immediate stabilization or transfixed by people on the road as refugees than we had in world war i or the funding facility for and it world war ii and so many coming stabilization, the ffes, these up of the conflict zone, the day funds restore services, provide of justice is arriving and those small grants to businesses, who commit these crimes will assist local government with recovery, address small face consequences, victims and infrastructure medium-sized people who are working to help infrastructure needs that includes utilities than the document these crimes who are so general structures of the discouraged, they are seen that the world will not stand with communities. in support reconciliation efforts. these are the fundamental them if they suffered, their eyes were gouged out, their building block the communities children hacked to death, tortured bodies returned to thrive in they have provided a

pledge to over 200 million from almost 20 partners including their parents, and the early 32 million pledged by the united states. part of the uprising, they need they've also created a similar to take hard, justice is possible, the evidence is being mechanism as i indicated called preserved and they should come ffes. that focuses on the midterm forward, investigators and assistance program. you can't just do it for a year prosecutors so we can begin if there's not continuity of funding. these atrocities and increase we are looking at several years and asking countries to chances that those who would participate in it. otherwise take flight be safe in both transfixed and ffes, we with their families and homes, thank you very much. work with the united nations so countries and private donors can provide funds to specific projects for assistance which >> thank you very much, can include minority areas of ambassador. specific sites. the floor is yours. we hope that this will bring significant international engagement with countries feeling a sense of partnership with these local communities and >> thanks for having me. ambassador, look. restoring those communities and as someone who was born and making return possible and that all of this will help give raised in syria, have no doubt minorities the confidence they have a future in ancestral but eventually those responsible

homelands and that is our message to the international will face their day in court or community. before their own people or it is indispensable to find the resources to assist all in need no matter what their faith, no before prosecutors. maybe on everything you are doing depending on what you are matter why it their religious or at neck identities so that as doing, thank you, andrew for many as possible will want to highlighting this issue. use day in their homes and feel confident in their future. the focus is usually on isil and so much remains to be done in order to achieve a lasting aid mose rosa and various terrorist of this barbaric group and to ensure religious diversity survives. organizations, must be rooted as secretary kerry has said, out, the overwhelming atrocities in syria are taking place on a daish represents barbarism in daily basis, on that there can its purest mustela farm from the slaughter of minorities to the systematic oppression of women, daish rejects every civilized norm. but to truly defeat daish, be no doubt. as reprehensible as they are, nothing so vividly or the focus right now, at least effectively repudiate daish's within us government is on supporting practical steps that goals or efforts of ethnic we can take to lay the groundwork for accountability cleansing and genocide and to ensure the security of the very and transitional justice, is

people daish has targeted at the supporting efforts by civil protection of their human rights and success of our joint effort society and international organizations. to gather evidence and help to to allow the return of iraq and build a case to assist many of serious displaced populations. the efforts we have heard about, your excellency's come your and whether they on the graces, fellow ambassadors, we aspire for all people in the government or opposition side, region regardless of their even though most of these beliefs to enjoy universal human rights and fundamental reagan including religious freedom. atrocities have taken place and i am proud that we have played a directed by the government. lead role in risk on name to we support these efforts not train for his atrocities and our dedication to promoting just those pertaining to abuses of detainees, sexual violence religious freedom including the against women and a larger rights of members of minority groups in iraq and syria remain amount of sexual related violent strong. but there is much work we must do together yet let's be honest, cases have been perpetrated by the regime against those who are supervising or families of the we all know whatever we have achieved, this is a dairy hard opposition. not just isil's abuses but a undertaking. achieving goals and implementing programs described about will much darker, bigger picture thanks in part to the -- what we

not be an easy task. have gotten out of syria. it requires creativity, vision and tenacity if we are to achieve our goals. that is exactly why we have really painted a more systematic targeting by the syrian regime against political opponents. creativity, division and tenacity are not in short supply in this room. farther efforts, for the the powerful current innovative grassroots advocacy that we have investigative mechanism, still heard about and see manifested in this room throughout iraq and reviewing evidence and syria as having real results. publishing or making public its report sometime in december the christian and turkmen and regarding who is responsible for kurdish and sunni and shia the use of chemical weapons in organizations are coming to the syria? the number of those affected by aid of their own and others in his area so selfless and send government weapons is far less common cause calling for an end to discrimination and persecution in conflict and than those detained, killed and political inclusion in the displaced. reawakening of historical is it clear international diversity. we see the work of running consensus and security council resolution to hold those parties clinics to provide health care and survivors of gender-based violence in documenting atrocity. the human rights and governance

in syria. and it comes out in just about a thing we see strong ad is safe for democracy and pluralism in month. as noted in 2012, it needs to be the advocacy inactivation and we a comprehensive approach in have seen that nurturing rebirth transitional justice, people are of a small jewish community in worried the united states -- the face of this catastrophe, perhaps to give immunity, there you guys so many others in this is no such thing going on, and room and around the world together with committed government and the international community gathered here this the regime does not think it is month will make the world less than and attend and respond. appetizing at the moment, pursuing a military victory in i want to express may consider syria to where we are pursuing a gratitude for your efforts and in and pluralism in iraq and political solution is preferable, and the way to have syria and protecting religious and ethnic minorities in sustainable peace in syria would advocating for the enjoyment of religious freedom for all the also ensure that the issue of members of populations whose voices are too often viewed or transitional justice would parcel transition and that is enshrined in the geneva ignored. thank you all for your communiqué. significant contributions to a

more peaceful tolerant and free or near reese. we support a syrian lead process it is a model of the entire which may lay the groundwork for world needs to urgently today. thank you. future transitional justice and criminal accountability and sustainable peace. on a side note i was the first official to see this. [applause] the mac i was working when ambassador roberts -- has one of his liaisons with syrian opposition, activists, ngos, many protesters that started the revolution, in 2013, once caesar left jordan i had a surreal meeting at a mcdonald's where a member of the opposition came to me. i was finishing a great in her, he opened up a laptop and showed me 50,000 pictures, you can see them here. there are a lot of people in the

us government that are personally invested in the issue of accountability. and we make sure we provide whatever support we can offer to accountability and transitional justice efforts. i will stop right here. i am sure i will take questions. [applause] >> this doesn't often happen, we are live streaming and this comes with syrian emergency task force. apparently -- as i mentioned we are scrolling on the left, referred to a number of times, he sent a message and he said i wanted to thank you for remembering the victims and

pursuing justice but it is important to act, not just >> stephen rapp, from u.s. ambassador in her charges with among the analyst at orissa discussion on potential legal speak. repercussions for cn president and to stop the atrocities, applaud congress for an bashar al-assad. important bill in support of he's been accused of committing war crimes against citizens. syrian civilians. panelists talk about the difficulty of prosecuting war what caesar is referring to is crimes as well as the not work the civilian protection act of at assad defectors have been critical in collecting information on the regime and 2015 which is a bipartisan bill its actions to the conflict. sponsored by congressman elliott angle, my apologies, 2016, and ed royce. you can speak with a number of >> good afternoon. others in the community and on welcome to the washington institute. i'm separate from, the martin the hill about zika, not just in terms of what we are dealing jake is odious to his program and politics. i would like to thank all of you with, the executive branch which for taking the time to attend is responsible and there are what i feel will be one of the sanctions and i can tell you is somebody who lived in syria for institute's most important

policy forums that this year. a long time there is one thing the syrian regime will worry i bashar al-assad for essays around the city of a lot though, the white house and u.s. secretary of state john kerry about and that is sanctions, in are the military cooperation ways we don't fully understand. with russia to combat terrorism i will take the moderator's preoperative and ask a question of the hostilities agreement and based on what was said. syria. allegations of regime mass atrocities had over the battlefield and complicate efforts to reach a political there is overwhelming evidence of atrocities, crimes by the settlement. major questions remain about the legal implications of the syrian regime. as was mentioned committed by response to the uprising, the all sides, by the syrian regime nature of iranian involvement in there is this chain of evidence the war and the manner in which the united states in the we can see here and a whole host international community will handle crimes against humanity and war crimes both in the context of a future settlement violations the ambassador in syria, but also under a new american president had to outlined so my question to you, discuss what is known as the

assad regime, the torture of his is why haven't we gone after them from the beginning. they are pleased to host some of what is stopping the united america's best minds working on writing, working and writing on states allies from going after the assad regime, or wait for the syria crisis and international legal issues surrounding it. the war to be over and pursue them or is there more going on to my left is the ben taub who behind the scenes and how does is a contributing writer at "the this play out in the political new yorker" where he authored process we are dealing with? the recent and i feel excellent articles entitled the assad >> i was in the us government files on the regime documentation to mass torture until august 2015 to lay the groundwork for accountability and killings as well as for these crimes but this was shadow.yours, more recent undershoot targeting of doctors and hospitals. not a situation like getting the security council by 15-0 to send the reporting on the assad files was facilitated by reporting the case to the icc, the here in washington, agreed out russians were blocking the icc, to that i have known in the past no effort to sanction or of my work with the institute of current world affairs and encourage you to check out i'm only been forher, but their work criticize the assad government so a number of things we had in as well.

the context of the establishment second is stephen rapp, the of the yugoslavia tribunal or former u.s. ambassador at-large for global criminal justice and currently serves as global security council or referral of prevention of for the prevention libya to the icc and there is no of genocide and has a distinguished fellow at the hague institute for global justice. jurisdiction under the treaty of last but not least is wa'el the icc and these crimes are committed by syrians and then alzayat, representative to the crimes committed on its united nations power in a territory by citizens could be lecture at georgetown school of prosecuted but clearly are not foreign service. so that particular avenue was are those of us that work on syria, is also one of the most closed and a mixed court, the knowledgeable persons in the u.s. government in syria and the implications for the region as a government of sierra leone, whole. those sorts of vehicles have without further ado, i will turn things over to ben to turn out. just too bad that guidance in been blocked. all of this. first of all, all comments today are on the record unless and third country prosecutions take time, one would identify there would be dual national, instructed otherwise. second, for those of you speaking as well as those asking

questions on the police beat and to show who is responsible for that crime would take a directly into the microphone great deal of energy to do it because not only are we being right according to the standards carried on network television, but also we are streaming aside we expect of us attorneys are in order to get your point european prosecutors or to have across, you're going to have to focus as the microphone. the perpetrators turn up or continuing the torture, they are then, the floor is yours. >> thank you. not on the road. from where they are in the united states the commission of inquiry established a human rights council couldn't go i'm going to focus today on presenting the assad files through because the russians will veto it and the united because the targeting of doctors states has been a measure, it and hospitals of the pattern evidence is very clear and systematic. passed a resolution, to create a the documentation from the internal regime documentation commission to investigate, the collected that i wrote about focus is on detention crimes right narrative reports, our which i suspect that hundreds of concern in 2014, that wasn't enough. thousands of serious, millions they are writing good narrative when it comes to family members. in the past four years, a group reports when they issue them but they were not collecting

of war crimes investigators who documents or videos, they were formed a group called the commission for international justice and accountability has -- doing some other things as well. smuggled over 600,000 government they were not in the business of documents out of the country. these came from facilities captured by rebels and this documentation meaning the us under secretary clinton assemble in 2012 announced we want to rebel commanders knew that the documentation centers which were investigators on the ground who at that point the accountability are ready to receive document. center. and so when these facilities were overrun, they would call up we proposed it, it stood up as one of the operatives who would an dependent board, here in then go in, box everything out, all evidence together so it could later be sifted through by lawyers in europe, buried in the washington, then supported other documentation efforts in syria. ground or in caves or hide and abandoned homes until it was possible to move these documents across international borders and international experts, one through a very complex of the most successful was this negotiations in occasional ugly procedure we see in funding to group. begin its operations to collect they have amassed this enormous quantity of evidence which then is a large team of international these documents, has a budget of lawyers and translators and

$6 million a year as it collects analysts has gone through in the delta case against the syrian these documents, 135 people a government, the first of several cases which focuses on crimes and detention. majority from syria but also using these documents, which prosecutors and investigators come from both assad highest putting this together so we are laying the foundation. level of security at the list distant provinces that they've been able to trace and rebuild we didn't prosecute the nazis, the chain of command and use the we beat them in the war, we didn't prosecute the rwandan chain of command to link the genocide or the genocide that systematic torture and murder of ended in the case of former tens of thousands of people in yugoslavia. it begins but never became the detention facilities to a policy crafted by the highest effective until the end of the level security committee approved by the president 99 intervention. then we got the high-level himself and then returned for implementation through mid-and suspects so it takes time to get low-level security agent. justice, you don't expect it like a bank robbery, you get a so this highest level security committee that i'm talking about trial in 6 months. is the essential crisis it won't be that way. management started -- warned in march 2011 members find to the that is discouraging to people who would like to see justice, ongoing protests. the meeting minutes -- the document that references the

as we had in the case of earliest meeting of the crisis qaddafi. to get those arrest warrants and said the leaders were still in power, sometimes you can do it and get situations like we had in liberia with charles taylor. he was basically being overthrown in his own country and became available. you don't necessarily have justice right away. people are discouraged by the fact the conflict is gone on so long in this area compared to others, symbolic actions, but the absence of trial for a statement there won't be trial tomorrow. and victors justice, clearly there are people in the

opposition, not just isis that committed horrible crimes and should be held to account too and the best ways future syria and democratic country with all communities represented, not a case of we won the war and people will be scot-free and nobody else prosecuted. but in the short term the impact of this with hundreds of thousands of refugees in europe we are in a similar situation with criminal jurisdiction in cases begin this year for these crimes. >> speak into the microphone. >> the challenge, quite well, has taken time, the issue of access to investigate on the ground is almost impossible, prosecutors lying on things that

are important which is the case of the assad files for future prosecution. i can tell you firsthand it is virtually impossible to get any real sanctions or censure of the regime given russian and chinese positions. it doesn't make it right, but that is the fact. in the case of the russians, will not agree to measures that have meaningful impact anytime soon. we were able in the case of joint investigative mechanism to secure support for standing up to the body. there are debates why they went along with it. whenever the gym they come back

with the security counsel and security council would be asked to act, they have a shot at expressing their displeasure. but it would be quite a bold move on their part to reject the findings of a body that the russians helped create and supported its mandate so we will see. it will be interesting to see what comes out on this front. it is true, the efforts with the optical design supporting optimization, i know we get a lot of flak, supporting an end to the conflict we think is the most important step and ushering

in a period in which credible transitional justice can take place, trying to reach true accountability now will be almost impossible if we are honest with ourselves, there could be certain cases where prosecution moving forward with undeniable evidence in a case against the man's you will see us being supportive of that moving forward but people should not conflate the difficulty of this issue, being happy about the current state of affairs or suppressing the process from moving forward i can tell you firsthand. >> i would like to open up for questions so please raise your hand and we will get a

microphone to you. we will start on my left with barbara. >> thank you very much, could you tell us more about the cases in europe, could you mention the countries or specifics about these cases? >> keep in mind they make no disclosures until they are prepared to arrest and hold somebody under a judicial order. i don't want to compromise anything in those investigations or the process but the cases do involve situations with seizure file and surviving family

members are cooperating with prosecution authorities to people who were responsible for the crime. for international prosecutions those prosecutors would rather go after somebody, and take them a decade to get into custody, and were more willing to wait a long time. there are countries that will prosecute and put out international -- what they are wanted when these cases are built and look at perpetrators elsewhere. and get tried, those may not be the highest levels but individual tortures. and those in the refugee stream engaged in similar conduct.

you will see cases like that based on citizenship of the victims. we will also see what cases are much more common in the cases of rwanda and crimes in latin america that have been prosecuted in europe because perpetrators have gone there and there are several perpetrators in europe that have been identified in cases built against them but those are particularly important cases, we don't want them heading back to syria. we want a strong case strong enough that when they are arrested there is evidence to hold them until the time of trial but there are a number of cases being made. my own role in my current role with the holocaust museum and

largely working on this issue of documenting ongoing crimes to assist national and international prosecution when we don't have the capacity to do it themselves but i'm not sitting there saying prosecute this guy or prosecute this guy. trying to make sure they have the evidence, connections are made, documentation centers are open to judges, magistrates, and they are, the siege moved from brussels, their investigators are going and digging out these files and asking additional information and doing their own work. there are a couple of these that are close to the filing stage. i know better than to say it will happen tomorrow but i can confidently say we will see this

kind of thing this year. these are not easy cases. charles taylor junior, we had some witnesses in the united states, torture in liberia. he was found in miami on a false passport because of sanctions flying through it was president -- present in the united states and we can prosecute him for torture abroad, his father was a student in massachusetts, but it involved going to liberia, fbi agents and witnesses bringing them to the united states to testify. sometimes they can go where the witnesses are and take statements and include that in the file but to the extent these cases are never as easy as local crimes, they are put together very well but the record of european prosecutors in cases involving crimes in africa and

latin america is almost 100% so we will have some success in the future. >> i recognize we are live streaming, but there are security concerns for anyone writing about this that their location be western europe, if that is something you intended to put in the article, something i spent a lot of time working on the piece in the country at the time. >> weight for the microphone. >> a quick question, suppose in pursuit of a political solution, someone tries to -- assad would leave the country, in exchange

for something. how would prosecution versus political immunity play out? >> first of all under international law is quite well recognized, to the consternation of leaders like in el salvador which struck down its 1993 amnesty law but for serious violations for atrocity, crimes against humanity, genocide, whatever anybody signs will not bar a prosecution. some people say it is too bad we can't make these deals anymore but frankly i think the perpetrators know that. it is not possible. that is not to say in the individual country they can't proceed with their own approach to because a person doesn't have

amnesty doesn't mean they don't prosecute them. most think prosecution should be limited to a high level and there should be other efforts, to reconcile with others seeking transitional justice measures. those are questions, to see that kind of thing happening in colombia, having transitional justice framework, prosecution is essential to getting people to colombia to agree to that let alone the possibility of national prosecution but there is a tendency on the part of the international community to work this out in a way that established the truth and does provide other consequences for the most serious things we won't disturb that. as far as binding agreement, somebody can't be prosecuted, that is not to say that somebody couldn't reach an agreement and

if you go you go somewhere might be hard to get to. one could never give them a guarantee that they wouldn't arrive when the government of the country might change and decided it is time to say something and a more passive approach is something people can live with but a deal is not a good thing and keep in mind when i sighed i prosecuted it in sierra leone. in 1999 the sponsorship negotiated a peace agreement, chopped off thousands of hands, they gave him amnesty, the group would disarm and engage in elections, trying to steal the diamond mines, they didn't

disarm, shot people down in the streets, killed some of them and the government said to the top leaders, no answer and those deals where you tell somebody you can get away with it gets you further crimes of impunity. and to note countries that faced that, confront the path, hold people responsible, have much lower levels of violence in the societies they are after. it is not a question of peace or justice, necessary to have justice in order to have long-term peace. >> i have a question for you. i am allowed to ask questions too. we discussed geopolitical agonies the security council

reinforcing any avenue in terms of referral to the itc. russia, we can conceive of a scenario in which down the line russia and china might not have a resolution to refer to a situation in syria so then what happens, a grozny type scenario, to force this displacement followed by anyone behind it, legitimate target. how would those individual russian actors making the decision be held to account given they are voting on the un security council, and russia is not part of that. what would be the hypothetical avenues pursuing justice for that crime? >> the bottom line, i was

careful, a case against russia now, 45 attacks on medical facilities and the same observatory in london, documented particular attacks in their work, their is potential liability there now but if you became part of this kind of operation and part of the bombing in the city of aleppo and relatively few are going to leave, they don't feel safe leaving, you have -- almost certainly russia was against it already, they get a resolution through security council. russian commanders, people going

to meetings somewhere find themselves tagged in those countries for these crimes so there could be jurisdiction, spend all their time with the russian federation, they are never bothered, we see accounts elsewhere, that kind of thing. these people engaged some of them with corruption and things like that, things that could provide resources and reasons to go after their money. there could be some accountability. it would be challenging. investigating russia in regard to other crimes committed during

the war. if you commit crimes, the icc could get involved in the syrian context, crimes have not been committed on that territory, we are not likely to get that jurisdiction but the possibility of justice is there, much stronger in the case of syrians, heads we win tales we lose, a safe place where family members are in the message that needs to be loud and clear if you want to commit these crimes there won't be places you will want to go live. >> a microphone in the middle. raise your hand so they can see you for the microphone.

>> greg rose of the defense department and american red cross dealing with genocide issues, two questions, a follow up on the russia question. i don't remember accountability for chechnya. i would like to suggest russia, given it has liability. i have spoken on various panels, hard to imagine they would agree to a procedure that would create judicial accountability in the un and it is astonishing to suggest but i am part of a group that is involved in dealing with accountability judicially for targeting of minorities in iraq and syria, genocidal targeting, i wonder how this issue of isis accountability and others fits into this question of

accountability by the syrian regime. some of us are working on that issue and it is clear the state department has not developed a sense how to deal with that because the assad issue might work in a bigger way. as an advisor to the ambassador did the administration have a position on that? i am wondering, what should he do about that issue of targeting minorities? >> i can tell you the state department and other agencies are compiling evidence of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in syria and iraq that may be perpetrated by nonstate actors, those investigations, the internal understanding whether there was an intentional

purpose to these atrocities is ongoing. they have not reached a final determination. what they are able to do in the case of this community, the overwhelming evidence on isil's own statement they want to wipe out the community of northern iraq, definitely a quicker case to make but if you see the rollout language, the decision was isil is responsible for crimes against other communities in iraq. regime that is ongoing, it is just a matter of time. >> i don't want to minimize the horrible crimes committed by isis on religious minorities in northern iraq and i don't want

to say anything is easy but that is easier than the syrian context because overwhelming crimes have been committed by isis, and have no friends among the states of the world and to some extent, low-level judicial accountability and the agenda we haven't made more progress on this today. one thing i can do is i got the invitation in front of the white house tomorrow night at 8:00 holding a candle with others on the second anniversary of the beginning of the genocide, the ceremony tomorrow, you are invited. it is important to take action on that. we had the syrian commission, some of these crimes are

committed in syria. they made the determination the genocide was committed and crimes against humanity and other crimes on the syrian side. secretary carrie made a declaration of a congressional mandate to do it within 90 days, in march of this year, crimes against religious minorities constitute genocide. more work needs to be done to bolster that finding. it is important to open up the avenue for accountability for these crimes. some of these perpetrators are coming into custody. the money men of isis who held kayla mueller as a hostage end-user as a sex slave.

for his pleasure. his wife who was involved in that was taken in the delta raid in 2015, she has been prosecuted for material support to a terrorist organization, was fairly responsible for that, because of the tie in the united states as well, she won't be extradited because she is an iraqi citizen. she is constitutionally protected against extradition but is not being prosecuted for the genocide, sexual slavery, appears to be complicit, not giving much for the victims. as we look and hope, mosul will be freed one of these days, there are major perpetrators,

some may die in the conflict but others will not, individuals should be held to account for this crime and how to get there, one could have a security council, not something baghdad at this point wants because it used the necessity of pushing isis out of iraq and regaining control of the country, an existential threat as priority one through 99 accountability is number 100 but it is important to lay the foundation for it. send it to the icc or the security council could but the icc is not the perfect solution, generally only prosecutes three or four people maximum in each of its situations, it does not have a large investigative capacity. it is very busy in the cases it

is in. i personally -- an investigative commission is different than an inquiry. investigators and others, very solidly, probably lead to a later resolution. every time that has happened it has been a first step. than the icc would have the evidence backed up but that is an important step to be taken. there has been a reluctance to support that because baghdad is concerned, talking about the crimes, not alleged crimes by other forces. there are some. that is one step. another step is moving forward with accountability and iraq and a lot of interest in the kurdish

region to do this. they need to do it in cooperation with iraq so it doesn't get caught up in implement issue of curtis dan and get into that but the iraqi judges i spoke to and in the region in april, victims and survivors want to see a mechanism established that would try people not just for terrorism but crimes committed against the other population ... >> and thousands today are in

this horrible situation of course if they bear children they will not be able to see their children. even if they don't die it is genocide but the horrible crime committed against them physically is as we recognize one way genocide is committed even if you don't kill the particular victim. genocide has been committed and horrendous crimes that constitute crime. and there needs to be accountability for those crimes. and there will be perpetrators held accountable and it is important to get some of them and try those individuals. this is broadly representative of the communities in the region but any kind of mechanisms for independent justice is needed and before that their efforts to

do the documentation there is no reason why we can't get started. >> i have a question concerning, you know, the current issue that i am seeing a lot of attention in syria surrounds the regime that moved to costello road which was highlighted and acerba acerbated by the shooting down of the russian helicopter. >> right. >> and then hit with a chemical agent in the last 24 hours. again, details unclear. so my question is, and you alluded to this, and i would be glad to hear from all three of you, given it is besieged and surrounded and the largest city, about 300,000 or so are trapped

there. this isn't the first time the regime has used such tactics. they have used them throughout the country. these tactics that have been going on since the beginning of the war, where do they fall in the spectrum of crimes? has it been a war crime? if, and this is important, if for example, a country like russia is involved in that procedure, are they then involved in that crime or an accomplice? how are these things handled? >> i don't want to get too dominant because i give long answers but i will try to mick it as quickly as i can. atta attacking war facilities is a war crime without question. intentionally attacking civilian objects