'This is your Nuremberg moment': Amal Clooney urges UN Security Council to take action on 'genocide' of sexual violence perpetrated by ISIS fighters

  • Barrister Amal Clooney, 41, was speaking at the UN in New York on Tuesday
  • She told the UN Security Council Yazidi women were victims of an ISIS genocide
  • Clooney told debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict a tribunal should be created
  • She appeared alongside Yazidi survivor and Nobel Prize Laureate Nadia Murad

Barrister and human rights activist Amal Clooney has told the United Nations, 'This is your Nuremberg moment,' at a debate in New York.

Clooney, 41, - wife of Hollywood actor George - told the Security Council's debate on Sexual Violence in Conflict a genocide had been perpetrated against the Yazidi women by ISIS fighters.

She advocated setting up a special tribunal to adjudicate on ISIS atrocities against women, citing conflicts in Bosnia and Rwanda as precedent, Global Action reported.

Clooney argued for four options to put Islamic State fighters on trial: International Criminal Court referral, setting up a court by treaty, an EU special court or a hybrid court.

Amal Clooney participates in a Security Council meeting on sexual violence at United Nations headquarters on Tuesday

Amal Clooney participates in a Security Council meeting on sexual violence at United Nations headquarters on Tuesday

Clooney (right) and Nadia Murad (second from right) greet the United Nations Secretary-General before the start of the meeting on Tuesday

Clooney (right) and Nadia Murad (second from right) greet the United Nations Secretary-General before the start of the meeting on Tuesday

'Justice is not inevitable and it doesn't stand a chance if people around this table don't make it a priority,' Sherine Trados of Amnesty International reported Clooney as saying.

Clooney said it was time to 'truly honor survivors like Nadia,' as she appeared alongside Yazidi trafficking survivor and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Nadia Murad.

The Yazidi ethnic minority were enslaved and trafficked by Islamic State throughout their so-called 'caliphate' after being taken prisoner in northern Iraq and Syria. 

Amal Clooney and Nadia Murad arriving at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday

Amal Clooney and Nadia Murad arriving at the UN Headquarters in New York on Tuesday

Clooney was made a Global Citizen of the Year by the Correspondents Association (UNCA) in 2018 and is a friend of Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle.

In December, Clooney made a blistering attack on President Donald Trump at the UNCA Awards in New York.

She accused Trump of giving the 'green light' to autocratic regimes who jail and kill journalists after he named the American press the 'enemy of the people'.

Clooney said reporters across the globe were 'under attack' from autocratic regimes including in North Korea, the Philippines, Hungary, Turkey, and Brazil.

She added: 'The U.S. President has given such regimes a green light and labeled the press in this country the "enemy of the people".

'And of course two months ago a Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, walked into a consulate in Istanbul and was brutally tortured to death.'

Clooney was appointed to her first UN commission in 2013 and has taken on a number of high profile international cases in her career as a civil rights lawyer. 

Clooney and Murad sit alongside each other as they take part in the U.N. Security Council meeting on sexual violence in conflict on Tuesday

Clooney and Murad sit alongside each other as they take part in the U.N. Security Council meeting on sexual violence in conflict on Tuesday

Last month she cemented her relationship with the royal family with news she would launch her own award to celebrate young inspirational women with the Prince's Trust International.

Prince Charles offered Clooney an ambassadorial role within his charity where she is expected to launch the Amal Clooney Award.  

She met George Clooney, 57, while on Lake Como in Italy, they married in 2014 and had twins in 2017.

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