When is genocide not genocide? When it should be 'femicide'

The minister defined 'femicide' as 'the persecution of women because they are women'

Friday 18 March 2016 09:57

Laurence Rossignol, French minister for family, children and women's rights said: 'It is because they are women and they are Yazidis that they are sold and murdered [by Isis]'

(Getty)

A French minister has urged the UN to introduce the term "femicide" into international law to describe the horrific crimes suffered by Yazidi women at the hands of Isis.

Speaking at the 60th annual Commission on the Status of Women, Laurence Rossignol, French minister for family, children and women's rights said, according to RFI: "It is because they are women and they are Yazidis that they are sold and murdered [by Isis].

"What they are experiencing is femicide."

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Young Yazidi girl gives powerful speech at UN

Ms Rossignol added that the international coalition carrying out anti-terror operations in Iraq and Syria should say it is not only there to eradicate terrorism, but also "to free the Yazidi women of the femicide that they suffer".

She explained that the term "femicide" referred to "the persecution of women because they are women ... [It] is an intention to wipe out a group."

Iraq crisis: Yazidi nightmare on Mount Sinjar

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1/15Iraq crisis: Yazidi nightmare on Mount Sinjar

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Isis in Sinjar town, walk towards the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate

Displaced people from the minority Yazidi sect, fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Isis in Sinjar town, walk towards the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community settle at a camp at Derike, Syria. In the camps here, Iraqi refugees have new heroes: Syrian Kurdish fighters who battled militants to carve an escape route to tens of thousands trapped on a mountaintop

A pilot based at RAF Marham entering a Tornado GR4 prior to taking off for the reconnaissance mission over Iraq. Several RAF Tornado jets set off from RAF Marham in Norfolk this afternoon to travel to a "pre-position", from where they will fly to northern Iraq to provide improved surveillance of the situation on the ground. The jets, fitted with Litening III targeting and surveillance pods, will be able to fly over the crisis area to provide intelligence and help with the delivery of humanitarian aid

A British Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR4 aircraft equipped with the Litening III pod from RAF Marham, eastern England, on their arrival at RAF Akrotiri Cyprus for their reconnaissance mission over Iraq

Aid inside a Royal Air Force (RAF) Hercules C130 J aircraft before being airdropped to civilians in Iraq

A Royal Air Force (RAF) Hercules C130 J military transport plane at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Britain made a third round of airdrops of supplies to aid refugees stranded on a mountain in northern Iraq, officials said, as Tornado fighters arrived at an RAF base in Cyprus preparing to provide surveillance support for the humanitarian effort

Royal Air Force (RAF) Tornado GR4 aircraft, flown in from Britain, stand on the tarmac at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus

A displaced man helps a woman, both from the minority Yazidi sect fleeing violence from forces loyal to the Isis in Sinjar town, as they make their way towards the Syrian border, on the outskirts of Sinjar mountain, near the Syrian border town of Elierbeh of Al-Hasakah Governorate

Iraqis including Turkmen, Shabaks, Kurds, Yezidis and Christians, fleeing from assaults of army groups led by Isis, take shelter at Bahirka Camp in Arbil

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community look for clothes to wear among items provided by a charity organization at the Nowruz camp in Derike, Syria

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community gather for food at the Nowruz camp in Derike, Syria

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community gather for food at the Nowruz camp in Derike, Syria

Syrian Kurdish Peshmerga fighters take a sick Iraqi Yazidi woman to the clinic at Nowruz camp in Derike, Syria

Sick displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community wait for treatment at a clinic at Nowruz camp in Derike, Syria

The term could also be applied to the kidnapping of young women by Boko Haram fighters in Nigeria, she added.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State John Kerry declared the slaughter of Christians, Yazidis and other ethnic groups by Isis should be classified as genocide.

He said: "In my judgment, Daesh is responsible for genocide against groups in areas under its control, including Yazidis, Christians and Shia Muslims", using the Arabic name for Isis.

It is the first time the US has declared genocide since Darfur, in 2004.

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