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| Jordan's Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein |
In his first speech as the new U.N. human rights chief in
the Human Rights Council in Switzerland, Jordan's Zeid Ra'ad al Hussein
condemned human rights violations on Monday to protect women and minorities
targeted by Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
The first Muslim commissioner Hussein called for the
international community to focus on ending the rift in the two countries.
IS fighters have fenced large parts of Syria
and Iraq since June, declaring a cross-border caliphate. The Geneva-based UN
Human Rights Council recently agreed to send a team to investigate killings and
other abuses carried out by the group on "an unimaginable scale".
Hussein, Jordan's former U.N. ambassador and a Jordanian
prince, defined Islamic State in his maiden speech to the Council as
"takfiris" who are hardline Sunni militants who rationalize killing
others by branding them apostates.
Hussein questioned IS fighters if “do they believe they
are acting courageously? Barbarically slaughtering captives? They reveal only
what a Takfiri state would look like, should this movement actually try to
govern in the future.”
"It would be a harsh, mean-spirited, house of blood,
where no shade would be offered, nor shelter given, to any non-Takfiri in their
midst," he added.
Hussein appealed to Iraq's new government and prime
minister to consider joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) to provide
accountability for the continuous deluge of criminal offenses.
Meanwhile, both the ambassadors of Iraq and Syria, in their
separate speeches, ordered for combating rebels in their homelands and for
halting the flow of weapons and funds to Islamist militants.
Syria's new envoy
Hussam Edin Aala declared that "terrorists must not be armed, the source
of financing must be stopped. Infiltration of terrorists from abroad must be
stopped.”
