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U.N. Silent on ISIS Sexual Abuse of Women
by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700
Copyright
August 30, 2014
All Rights Reserved.
Officials from the Office of the United Nations High
Commission on Human Rights condemned Nigeria’s renegade Islamic Boko Haram for
kidnapping 276 teen and pre-teen girls April 14 from a boarding school in
Northern Nigeria. Recognized for
its savage practices, the world calls to “give back our girls” fell on deaf ears
from another Somali-like-pirate group extorting cash from foreign governments. Britain’s NGO Syrian Observatory for
Human Rights confirms that at least 27 Yazidi women and girls were sold for
$1,000 to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria fighters. While there are few, if any,
differences between ISIS and Boko Haram, OHCHR hasn’t condemned ISIS. “The
Observatory documented at least 27 cases of those being sold into marriage by
Islamic State members in the Northeast of Aleppo province and parts of Raqa and
Hassakeh province,” said the NGO.
President Barack Obama seeks consensus with Congress on a long-term ISIS
strategy designed to stop the militant group from threatening U.S. national
security. Watching 40-year-old U.S.
journalist James Foley beheaded by a British ISIS member pushed Obama into doing
something he promised not to do:
Intervene militarily in a new Mideast War. Whatever Obama’s original thinking about ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars, history
came knocking, forcing him to face a growing threat to U.S.—and world—security. After bombing ISIS positions near
the Mosul dam since Aug. 21, Obama must now consider taking the battle to ISIS
in Syria. Whether or not ISIS
directly threatens U.S. national security today, Obama no longer accepts its
criminal activity with impunity.
Watching ISIS kidnap women and underage minors and sell them into sexual slavery
goes over the top.
No principled country can accept ISIS’s treatment of women and young
girls. While ISIS’s media wing
routinely posts videos of beheadings, crucifixions and executions, they don’t
post kidnapping, auctions, raping and sexual slavery of women and underage
girls. Reporting ISIS kidnapping of
300 women, the London-based Observatory condemned the “sale of these women who
are being treated as though they are objects to buy or sell,” mirroring the
complete impotence of well-intentioned non-profits to stop such egregious
behavior. Whether the U.N. High
Commission gets around to condemning ISIS is anyone’s guess. One thing’s for sure, the U.S. and
European Union currently sit on their hands while ISIS engages in the most
horrific human rights’ abuses. Only
the U.S. has shown some signs that something must be done to stop such shocking
behavior.
Consumed with ethnic and economic problems in Great Britain and on the
Continent, EU officials worry about terrorist uprising for joining any U.S.
action against ISIS. Reluctant to
take any action against ISIS, the EU expects the U.S. to do the heavy lifting. Once referred as “Old Europe” by
former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Europe’s long history of fighting its
neighbors, starting world wars and causing much sacrifice for the U.S. hasn’t
stopped the U.S. from acting on principle.
Whether or not Obama wants to play world policeman, he really has no
choice given Europe’s history and current isolationism. While the U.S. must pick its battles
wisely, going after ISIS makes perfect sense in the context of the global war on
terror. Where former President Bush
went wrong was not going after terrorists, it was toppling Iraq without any way
of maintaining order.
Syrian officials warned the U.S. about going after ISIS, despite the fact
that ISIS threatens to topple President Bashar al-Assad’s Shiite government. Syria’s already lost over 30% it its
sovereign land to ISIS, establishing a new caliphate July 1. Sweeping through Syria and Iraq
since January, ISIS has managed one of the most extensive blitzkriegs since WW
II, taking more sovereign land than any other terror group. For all of Osama bin Laden’s
terrorist acts, al-Qaeda never took sovereign land from Arab states, killing
more Muslims and Arabs than any other group in world history. While the London-based SOHRrips
Israel for using excessive force in Gaza, they’ve said little about ISIS
land-grabs, rape, torture and mass murder in the Muslim world. Today’s SOHR report about ISIS’s
sexual and physical abuse of women and children should prompt Obama to act.
U.N. officials should give Obama a mandate to do whatever is necessary to
stop ISIS’s abuses of women and children.
Condemning ISIS at the podium must be met with something other than lip
service. “We have reports of women
being executed and unverified reports that strongly suggest hundreds of women
and children have been kidnapped—many of the teenagers have been sexually
assaulted, and women have been assigned or sold to IS fighters,” said U.N.
religious rights monitor Heiner Beilefeldt acknowledging ISIS’s abuses. While Russian President Vladimir
Putin selfishly consolidates gains in Ukraine, he says and does nothing about
ISIS. As ISIS proclaims a
“caliphate,” Putin might as well proclaim a new Soviet Empire. While Obama must pick his battles
wisely, intervening militarily to stop ISIS’s egregious human rights abuses is
the right thing to do.
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