2 March 2015
UNSC: common effort amongst governments and institutions needed to counter ISIL
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the ‘ongoing barbaric terrorist acts’ committed by militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and reaffirmed its determination in defeating the extremist group.
In a statement, the 15-member Council once again stressed that ISIL ‘must be defeated’ and the ‘intolerance, violence and hatred it espouses must be stamped out’, adding that the ‘continued acts of barbarism perpetrated by ISIL do not intimidate them, but rather stiffen their resolve.’
‘There has to be a common effort amongst Governments and institutions, including those in the region most affected, to counter ISIL’, the statement continued. ‘No act of violence or terrorism can reverse a path towards peace, democracy and reconstruction in Iraq, underpinned by the rule of law and respect for human rights, which is supported by the people and the Government of Iraq and the international community.’
The Council statement follows a series of recent atrocities perpetrated by ISIL against civilians in Iraq, including the reported abduction of 100 Sunni tribesmen from outside Tikrit on 25 February; the immolation of 45 Iraqis in the town of Baghdadi; and the ‘deliberate destruction of irreplaceable religious and cultural artefacts’ housed in Mosul Museum.