Tom Gordon present JCHR report to Parliament on Daesh Accountability

Tom Gordon, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough and member of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, has presented a new report to Parliament. The report calls on the Government to ensure that those who committed crimes as part of Daesh, also known as Islamic State, between 2014 and 2017 are prosecuted for their crimes. 

During that period, a number of British citizens travelled to the Iraq and Syria area to fight for the terrorist organisation. Since then there has been no clear program of prosecutions against those responsible for criminal acts, including genocide, war crimes or crimes against humanity, although a few have been prosecuted under terrorism laws. This is despite the Government recognised Daesh’s actions as genocide against the Yazidi people. 

The report calls on the Government to step up prosecutions and ensure accountability for Daesh crimes, as other countries, including Germany, have done. Concerns are also raised the successive Governments have been using deprivation of citizenship, most famously in the Shamima Begum case, to avoid having to prosecute them. There are also many British citizens stuck in appalling conditions in camps in North East Syria, including many minors either taken to Syria by their parents or born there.  

Commenting, Tom said: 

“Daesh’s crimes were horrific, and Britain must play its part in bringing justice to the perpetrators. Other countries have led the way, but deprivation of citizenship is not justice, it’s an abdication of responsibility. 

“I’m proud to have brought this report to Parliament today. The JCHR is committed to holding the Government to account to make sure that they act, and not throw away our proud history of standing up for human rights.

“We must not be the country to take the easy option, sit on our hands and let perpetrators of violence and genocide get away with it.”

ENDS