It's On U was a campaign launched in 2015 in order to draw attention to ISIS's crimes against the Yazidis and bring ISIS before the International Criminal Court (ICC) so it could be charged with genocide.

Formation

In late August 2015, Luis Moreno Ocampo, former Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, Kerry Propper, financial entrepreneur, activist and producer of the documentary film ''

Watchers of the Sky ''Watchers of the Sky'' is a 2014 American documentary film directed by Edet Belzberg. The film premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2014 in the ''U.S. Documentary Competition''. It won the two awards at the festival. It went ...

'', filmmaker Taylor Krauss, and Uncommon Union co-founder Elizabeth Schaeffer Brown, traveled to Northern Iraq to support the co-founder of

Yazda Yazda: Global Yazidi Organization (, ar, يزدا; ku, یەزدا ,Yazda), is a United States-based global Yazidi nonprofit, non-governmental organization (NGO) advocacy, aid, and relief organization. Yazda was established to support the Yazidi, ...

, Murad Ismael. The group met with surviving victims in

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced peo ...

s, Yazidi religious leaders, and members of the Kurdistan regional government, including the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of the Interior, and the Office of Genocide Documentation. On September 26, 2015, the group supported Yazda to bring a case against ISIS for genocide crimes to the ICC in The Hague. The report detailed atrocities IS fighters in northern Iraq have perpetrated since August 2014. During this time the group launched a campaign called "It's On U" to lobby heads of state to recognize the genocide, engage key government officials, and encourage the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to refer the case to the ICC.

Activities

In November 2015, Nadia Murad teamed up with Murad Ismael and made a speech at the UNSC. This public appearance gained Nadia Murad recognition as "the face of the Yazidi Genocide." Subsequently, Ismael and Murad traveled around the world meeting with heads of state to ask for their financial and political support. At the beginning of 2016, the "It's On U" campaign partnered with

Global Citizen Global citizenship is the idea that one's identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: "humanity". This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives ...

and

RYOT Ryot (alternatives: raiyat, rait or ravat) was a general economic term used throughout India for peasant cultivators but with variations in different provinces. While zamindars were landlords, raiyats were tenants and cultivators, and served as hi ...

to help reach over a million

millennials Millennials, also known as Generation Y or Gen Y, are the Western demographic cohort following Generation X and preceding Generation Z. Researchers and popular media use the early 1980s as starting birth years and the mid-1990s to early 2000 ...

. Signed petitions from the campaign called on Iraq to refer the case to the ICC. In May the team traveled to London. The signatures were hand-delivered by Nadia Murad, Philippe Sands, Luis Moreno Ocampo,

British MP In the United Kingdom, a member of Parliament (MP) is an individual elected to serve in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Electoral system All 650 members of the UK House of Commons are elected using the first-past- ...

s, representatives from Yazda, Global Citizen, and Elizabeth Schaeffer Brown to the Iraqi ambassador to the UK. During this time It's On U approached Amal Clooney to help with the case and provide ''

pro bono ( en, 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. In the United States, the term typically refers to provision of legal services by legal professionals for pe ...

'' legal services to Nadia Murad and Yazda. On June 5, 2016, Amal Clooney officially became counsel to Nadia and Yazda to bring justice to the Yazidi community for genocide crimes committed by ISIS.

References

{{Reflist Persecution of Yazidis by ISIL Persecution of Yazidis in Iraq Political campaigns

Formation

Activities

See also

References