ISIS Sex Slave Survivor Tells Congress About Horrors of Her Captivity: 'It Was Like Hell'
Former Virginia congressman and international religious freedom advocate Frank Wolf expressed outrage at the possibility that a man responsible for the sex enslavement of innocent women and girls could be receiving aid at a U.N. camp.
"Who is getting the money and paying for the U.N.? The United States government. Are you saying the United States government is funding a camp where a man that did this to her is living?" Wolf, who is currently a senior fellow at 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, asked. "That is unacceptable."
Wolf urged Congress to pass the Iraq and Syria Genocide Emergency Relief and Accountability Act, which calls on the State Department to encourage foreign governments to identify and prosecute IS jihadis suspected of committing war crimes against Yazidis and other religious minorities in Iraq.
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The legislation also calls on the U.S. government to ensure that humanitarian and recovery assistance already allocated to the victims of IS is provided to ethnic and religious minority communities facing extinction who are struggling to receive aid from the United Nations or the United States. The act passed unanimously in the House in June but has moved slowly in the Senate.
"This [bill] is essential because some within the State Department and USAID have claimed they lack the authority to deliberately help religious and ethnic communities, even if they are genocide victims and will become extinct without assistance," Wolf said. "Although there is nothing in U.S. law preventing them from helping genocide-surviving communities, the authorization will help ensure the aid actually flows to the victims."
As international humanitarian aid groups and religious leaders in Iraq continue to raise awareness about how Christian, Yazidi and other religious minority communities are not getting direct humanitarian or reconstruction assistance from the U.S. government, Wolf recommended that the White House establish an inter-agency coordinator post to guarantee that the needs of those communities in Iraq "are adequately addressed to ensure their safety and preservation consistent with United States foreign policy."
