A community-based Truth Commission will hold next week at Berlin to address ongoing failure of governments, including the United Kingdom and international organisations to deliver justice for Ezidi (Yazidi/Yezidi) victim-survivors over a decade after the genocide perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

A statement on Wednesday said the commission will be chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, a member of the UK House of Lords.

The commission will commence work from November 16 to18, hearing first-hand testimonies of 30 Ezidi victim-survivors and experts giving evidence before a truth commission for the first time.

The statement said, “Victim-survivors, including women and men of all ages, will share their stories publicly for the first time, detailing the atrocities they endured, including child enslavement, sexual violence, torture and murder.

“Evidence of systematic crimes committed by ISIS against the Ezidis in northern Iraq between 2014 and 2017 will be assessed at the commission. ISIS murdered more than 5,000 Ezidis, and abducted an estimated 6,400 people, including 2,700 of whom are still missing.”

A panel of internationally recognised commissioners, including the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize winner and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, Nobel laureate, Oleksandra Matviichuk and highly renowned commission’s vhair, will evaluate the evidence.

“The Truth Commission will seek to generate pressure on governments and support urgent calls for domestic legislation, universal jurisdiction prosecutions and, possibly, the establishment of a dedicated international tribunal to address the lack of action to prosecute genocide,” the statement added.

Ms Kennedy said, “Twelve years on from the genocidal campaign launched against the Ezidis, victim-survivors will, for the first time, be given a platform to speak before a Commission. International recognition of this genocide has not been matched by accountability, and the dismantlement of UNITAD in 2024 as the principal mechanism for investigating these crimes reflects this.

“This Truth Commission demands more than solidarity: it calls on states to act on their declarations, using the legal avenues already available to prevent and punish genocide as the 1948 Genocide Convention requires. The Ezidi people deserve justice, dignity, and security. Continued impunity for genocide is unacceptable.”