Amal Clooney Urges UN To Investigate ISIS Atrocities In Iraq, Media Focuses On Baby Bump

Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney is urging the United Nations to back a UK-led investigation into the atrocities committed by the Islamic State in Iraq.

AMAL CLOONEY URGES UN TO INVESTIGATE ISIS IN IRAQ

The Islamic State, or IS, according to Clooney, has declared its plans to “destroy” Iraq’s Yazidi ethnic group through tactics such as murder, rape, and forced conversion. They are also attacking Christinas, and Shia and Sunni Muslims, she said.

Clooney has accused the UN of “inaction,” saying it “was created as the world’s way of saying ‘never again’ to the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis… And yet here we are, 70 years later, discussing the UN’s inaction in the face of a genocide that we all know about, and that is ongoing.”

Currently, the UK is drafting a resolution to establish this investigation, but Clooney says they first need a written request from the Iraqi government. She urged the UN to go ahead with the plan, even if Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who was present, did not support the plan.

“Mass graves in Iraq still lie unprotected and unexhumed,” Clooney said. “Witnesses are fleeing. And there is still not one ISIS militant who has faced trial for international crimes anywhere in the world… Don’t let this be another Rwanda, where you regret doing too little, too late. Don’t let ISIS get away with genocide,” she pleaded.

Despite Clooney’s powerful speech, many news outlets only reported on her growing baby bump. She and husband George Clooney are expecting twins in a few months. While various tabloids called her “a vision in yellow” and said she “put her growing baby bump on display…for U.N. speech.” Even TIME stooped and titled their piece, “Amal Clooney Shows Off Her Baby Bump at the United Nations.”

When asked if her marriage gives her “a bigger platform and [gets] more people to listen to you,” Amal brushed off the not-so-subtle reference to her famous husband, and spoke about her UN stance. “In other words, if we want to hear Amal talk, she’ll be talking about human rights,” said reporter Heather Havrilesky in 2015. “She won’t be talking about love and marriage and babies. That’s George’s job. He’s the man behind the woman. Which is a pretty unfamiliar, teachable moment for George and for America.”