The United Nations Human Rights Council has recently declared that ISIS violence against the Yazidi religious minority constitutes a case of "ongoing genocide". Dr Valeria Cetorelli will present the first survey evidence on the number and demographic profile of Yazidis killed and enslaved by ISIS.

Valeria Cetorelli is a Research Officer at the LSE Middle East Centre and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Center for Refugee and Disaster Response. She is a demographer with expertise in survey methodology and data analysis. Her research focuses on conflict-affected, forced migrant and other vulnerable populations.

Sareta Ashraph (@SaretaAshraph) is currently the Stanford Law School’s Global Practitioner-in-Residence. From May 2012 to November 2016, Sareta served as the Analyst on the Commission of Inquiry on the Syria, documenting violations of international law in the context of the ongoing conflict. Immediately prior to this, she occupied the same position on the Commission of Inquiry on Libya. Sareta is responsible for the investigation and drafting of the Commission’s June 2016 report They Came to Destroy: ISIS’s Crimes Against the Yazidis, which found that ISIS was - and is - committing the crime of genocide. Sareta is a member of Garden Court Chambers in London.

Nelida Fuccaro teaches modern Middle Eastern history at SOAS, University of London. Her research focuses on urban history, the history of oil and violence, ethnicity, nationalism and frontier societies. Between 2011 and 2014 she led with Ulrike Freitag an international project on the history of public violence in modern Middle Eastern cities sponsored by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Great Britain and the Deutsche Forschungemeinschaft. 

Toby Dodge (@ProfTobyDodge) is Director of the LSE Middle East Centre, a Professor in the International Relations Department at LSE, and a Senior Consulting Fellow for the Middle East, International Institute for Strategic Studies, London. 

The LSE Middle East Centre (@LSEMiddleEast) builds on LSE's long engagement with the Middle East and North Africa and provides a central hub for the wide range of research on the region carried out at LSE. 

LSE Works is a series of public lectures, that will showcase some of the latest research by LSE's academic departments and research centres. In each session, LSE academics will present key research findings, demonstrating where appropriate the implications of their studies for public policy. A list of all the LSE Works lectures can be viewed at LSE Works.

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Podcast & Video 

A podcast and video of this event is available to download from Documenting Genocide: survey evidence on ISIS violence against Yazidis.

Podcasts and videos of many LSE events can be found at the LSE Public Lectures and Events: podcasts and videos channel.