Crucial UAE funding is helping UN investigators to move a step closer to prosecuting ISIS in Iraq for war crimes against Yazidi women and children.
The latest report from the UN’s ISIS war crimes team reveals that prosecutions of terrorists could begin in months.
The Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by ISIS said it was aided by funds from the UAE to advance its investigations of crimes of sexual slavery, leading to more ISIS offenders being identified.
“Contributions provided by the UAE have continued to support and enhance the work of the Sexual and Gender-based Crimes and Crimes Against Children Unit," said the UN team's report, which will be presented to the UN Security Council on Thursday.
“Recent interviews have strengthened established investigations in that area and have served to identify additional suspected ISIS perpetrators connected with sexual slavery.”
The team, led by British lawyer Karim Khan, QC, has identified nearly 350 terrorists behind the genocide of the Yazidis and other groups.
Using more than 2 million pieces of data from mobile phones, investigators were able to place ISIS members at the scenes of the atrocities.
It has been training Iraqi investigative judges in the development of case files for the prosecution of ISIS members for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The team is working with Iraq to implement a war crime law, which is expected to be adopted within the next year and lead to prosecutions.
It also said “substantial progress has been made” in pursuing new lines of investigation in relation to crimes committed by ISIS against the Kakai, Shabak and Shiite Turkmen communities.
In October, Iraqi experts from the Mass Graves and Medico-Legal directorates started exhumations in the mass graves left by ISIS in Solagh and Kojo, Nineveh governorate.
The team says its work has been affected by the pandemic but now its priority is to return the remains of loved ones to their families.
“Through close co-operation with the Iraqi authorities, the team is now moving forward with a number of priority activities on the ground in Iraq, including the crucial resumption of mass grave excavations and the return of the remains of victims to families,” it said.
“Through the combined initiatives of domestic legislative reform, the provision of support by the team to Iraqi authorities in the preparation of case files and the digitisation of vast amounts of evidence, a path towards the successful completion of the mandate of the team has emerged.
“The team will continue to rely on its partnership with survivors, affected communities, national authorities and the international community in pursuit of meaningful accountability for crimes committed by ISIS.”
The data the team has collected so far has helped to find suspects from the summer of 2014, when extremists killed and enslaved thousands of Yazidis in northern Iraq.
Mr Khan said the records provided evidence that was admissible in court and could prove criminal responsibility beyond reasonable doubt.
There are more than 200 mass graves containing up to 12,000 bodies in Iraq, which are attributed to ISIS.
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
