Article

ISIS and the violations of human rights of sexual minorities : is the international community responding adequately ?

Silvia Venier and Denise Venturi

• The Asian yearbook of human rights and humanitarian law, Vol. 1, 2017, p. 109-134

English

As part of the atrocities committed in Syria since the outbreak of the civil war, the attention of the international community has been attracted by the violence targeting a particularly vulnerable group, i.e. individuals pertaining to ‘sexual minorities’, or Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI). This article aims at providing an overview of the human rights abuses committed against LGBTI individuals in the territories controlled by ISIS in Syria and Iraq, and at discussing the extent to which the international community is aware of the problem and is addressing it adequately. The article then seeks to examine the legal implications triggered by the abuses committed by ISIS militants against LGBTI individuals and to discuss further avenues that might be available at the international level to ensure accountability, focusing on the challenges in applying international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international criminal law provisions to these contexts.

• The Asian yearbook of human rights and humanitarian law
• The Asian yearbook of human rights and humanitarian law [Vol. 1 (2017)]