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	UN expert urges swift action on “hidden tragedy” of people fleeing gang violence by Special Rapporteur Cecilia Jimenez-Damary El Salvador   August 2017   El Salvador must do more to help families forced to flee their homes by gang violence, a United Nations expert has said at the end of an official mission to the country.   “El Salvador is suffering a hidden tragedy of people who have had to leave their homes because of the high levels of gang-related violence,” said Special Rapporteur Cecilia Jimenez-Damary, who examines the human rights of internally displaced persons.   “The problem is more significant and widespread than the Government is currently accepting. The Government needs to acknowledge the full extent of internal displacement and act to tackle it and the gang violence which is driving it.   “I urge the Government to intensify its efforts to help and protect these people,” she added.   Ms. Jimenez-Damary, who visited violence-hit areas including Mejicanos in San Salvador, said the situation needed urgent attention.   “Gangs dominate territories and populations through threats, intimidation and a culture of violence that infects whole communities and everyday activities, movements, interactions and relationships,” the Special Rapporteur said.   “Killings are commonplace and extortion is widespread. If people are under threat from gangs, they and their families leave their homes to seek safety elsewhere.”   The human rights expert praised the positive measures taken to address the violence and assist victims, such as the ‘Safe El Salvador Plan’, but stressed that they were insufficient to deal with the current scale of the problem.   She noted the need for statistics to reveal the full extent of the problem. Estimates suggest that thousands of people in El Salvador flee their homes every year, but the exact number is not known.   Many displaced people seek anonymity and become “invisible victims”, while others seek sanctuary abroad, partly because of the lack of protection and assistance available in their own country.   “Young people are particularly affected by violence,” said Ms. Jimenez-Damary who visited El Salvador at the invitation of the Government. “One young woman told me: ‘It is a crime and dangerous to be a young person in El Salvador today’. This situation is due not only to the gang violence, but in some cases is the result of oppressive police and military operations.   “Youth, women, and girls are particularly vulnerable to threats, intimidation and violence, including rape. Members of the LGBTI community are also highly vulnerable. One person described being forced to flee several times due to threats, assassination attempts and intimidation by gangs.”   The expert emphasized that under the provisions of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, States such as El Salvador had an obligation to protect people displaced by generalized violence.   During her five-day visit, from 14 to 18 August, the expert met senior State and Government officials, United Nations and other humanitarian partners, representatives of civil society organizations, and people who had fled their homes.   Her full findings and recommendations will be included in a report to the Human Rights Council in June 2018. http://bit.ly/2xaFTFe   http://igarape.org.br/en/latin-americas-deseperados/ http://igarape.org.br/en/citizen-security/ http://igarape.org.br/ http://osf.to/2hchGFA http://www.crisisgroup.org/latin-america-caribbean/central-america/easy-prey-criminal-violence-and-central-american-migration http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2016/10/central-america-turns-its-back-on-hundreds-of-thousands-fleeing-war-like-violence/ http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2016/09/01/gang-violence-central-america-humanitarian-crisis http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/roundtable-on-protection-needs-in-the-northern-triangle-of-central-america.html http://www.unhcr.org/en-au/news/latest/2016/12/583ee5ee4/tough-road-north-central-american-children.html Visit the related web page
	ISIL''s crimes against Yazidis are ongoing by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights   August 2017   Marking three years since (ISIL/Da''esh) attacked the Yazidis in Syria, a United Nations mandated inquiry has called for justice and rescue plans.   “The Commission of Inquiry calls on the international community to recognize the crime of genocide being committed by ISIL against the Yazidis and to undertake steps to refer the situation to justice,” said the expert panel in a statement marking the third anniversary of ISIL''s attack on the Yazidis.   According to the Commission, in the early hours of 3 August 2014, ISIL fighters launched an attack on the Yazidis of Sinjar – a distinct religious community whose practice spans thousands of years. Over the following days, the terrorist group executed hundreds of men and took captive thousands of women and children, publicly reviling them as ''infidels.''   In its June 2016 report, entitled They Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis the Commission found that many of the women and girls were taken to Syria where they were sold as chattel and sexually enslaved by ISIL fighters. Boys were indoctrinated, trained and used in hostilities.   “ISIL committed the crime of genocide by seeking to destroy the Yazidis through killings, sexual slavery, enslavement, torture, forcible displacement, the transfer of children and measures intended to prohibit the birth of Yazidi children,” the report concluded.   The genocide is on-going and remains largely unaddressed, despite the obligation of States Party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 to prevent and to punish the crime, the Commission said.   “Thousands of Yazidi men and boys remain missing and the terrorist group continues to subject some 3,000 women and girls in Syria to horrific violence including brutal daily rapes and beatings,” the expert body noted.   Pointing out that some women and girls are being held in Raqqa city, the Commission revealed that as the Syrian Democratic Forces and international coalition offensive on Raqqa intensifies, reports have emerged of ISIL fighters trying to sell enslaved Yazidi women and girls before attempting to flee Syria.”   The Commission recommended that all parties fighting ISIL consider plans to rescue Yazidi captives and use all possible to ensure their freedom during on-going military operations.   “The international community must also recognize ISIL is committing the crime of genocide against the Yazidis,” the statement concluded, urging action to refer the situation to justice, “including to the International Criminal Court or an ad hoc tribunal with relevant geographic and temporal jurisdiction as well as to dedicate resources to bringing cases before national courts, whether under the framework of universal jurisdiction or otherwise.”   The Independent International Commission – comprised of the Chair, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, Karen Koning AbuZayd and Carla Del Ponte – has been mandated by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate and record all violations of international law since March 2011 in Syria. Visit the related web page
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