It's On U
It's On U
In late August 2015, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Kerry Propper, financial entrepreneur, activist and producer of Watchers of the Sky, filmmaker Taylor Krauss, and Uncommon Union co-founder Elizabeth Schaeffer Brown, traveled to Northern Iraq to support the co-founder of Yazda, Murad Ismael. The group met with surviving victims in refugee camps, 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.[1]
During this time the group launched a campaign called “It’s On U” to lobby heads of state to recognize the genocide, engage key governments officials, and encourage the UN Security Council to refer the case to the ICC.
In November 2015, Nadia Murad teamed up with Murad Ismael and made her historic speech at the UN Security Council. This public appearance gained Nadia recognition as the “Face of the Yazidi Genocide.” Since November, Ismael and Murad have been traveling around the world meeting with heads of state to ask for their financial and political support.
In the beginning of 2016, the “It’s ON U” campaign partnered with Global Citizen and RYOT to help reach over a million millennials. 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’s, representatives from Yazda, Global Citizen, and Elizabeth Schaeffer Brown to the British Ambassador of Iraq.
During this time It's ON U approached Amal Clooney to help with the case and provide pro-bono legal services to Nadia Murad and Yazda On June 5, Amal Clooney officially became counsel to Nadia and Yazda to bring justice to the Yazidi community for genocide crimes committed by Daesh.[2]