Yazidi UPDATES genocide has occurred and is ongoing

[Anthea]

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Saving those enslaved by ISIS

Bahar Elias spent 18 months as a prisoner and slave of Islamic State group

In 2014, thousands of Yazidi women and children were enslaved by the Islamic State (ISIS) group in Iraq and Syria. Their fellow Yazidis launched a rescue effort almost immediately, but nearly a decade later, their task is still unfinished.

In November 2015, Bahar and her three young children had just been sold for the fifth time.

She had been one of many Yazidi women taken prisoner by ISIS, who had swept into her village in the Sinjar district of northern Iraq 18 months earlier. A religious minority living in Iraq for nearly 6,000 years, the Yazidis were considered infidels by the ISIS fighters.

Her husband and eldest son had been taken away. She believes they were shot and buried in a mass grave.

Bahar remembers how she and her three other children were all lined up in a room, crying because they thought they would be beheaded. But instead, they were being sold.

That's when the horror really began.

Bahar says she had to serve the ISIS fighters whose property she became. "I had to act like their wives, when they wanted. They would beat me if they wanted to." Her children, all under the age of 10, were also beaten. One of her daughters was smashed in the face with a rifle butt.

Her fourth "owner" was a Tunisian called Abu Khattab. "We stayed at his home, but he would also loan me out to work as a cleaner at two other ISIS bases. At all these places, I would go to work, I would clean and I would be raped.

"And there were air raids all the time. ISIS fighters would be running around, getting weapons, or hiding from the bombing. It was chaos, it was worse than a nightmare."

Mosul 2014: ISIS took control of areas of Iraq and Syria until they were defeated in 2017

One day, when Bahar and her children were in Abu Khattab's house, a white car with blacked-out windows pulled up. The driver was dressed in black with a long beard, and looked no different from many other ISIS fighters.

Bahar realised she and her children were being sold once more. Overwhelmed with the situation, Bahar screamed at the man to just kill her - she couldn't bear any more.

But what happened next changed everything.

As they drove off, the driver said, "I am taking you somewhere else." Bahar didn't know what was happening or trust the man, and she began to get frantic. He stopped the car, and called someone on his phone. He then handed the phone to Bahar. It was the voice of Abu Shuja, a man known to have arranged the rescue of many women and children. Now she realised that the driver had bought her so she and her children could also be rescued.

Bahar was driven to a construction site somewhere near Raqqa, in Syria. She was dropped off and told that a man would come, and say the code word "Sayeed". She should go with him.

Sure enough, someone arrived on a motorbike, and uttered the word. He told Bahar and her three children to get on his motorbike, and said, "Listen, we are in ISIS territory, there are checkpoints. If they ask you anything, don't say a word, so they don't recognise your Yazidi accent."

Bahar says that the man took them to his home: "They were so nice to us there - we showered, they gave us food and painkillers and they said, 'You are in safe hands now'."

Another man took pictures of Bahar and her children and sent them to Abu Shuja to prove that he had the right people. Then at about 03:00 the next morning, the family was woken up and told to get ready to move again. The man whose house they were staying in gave Bahar his mother's ID card and said that if anyone should stop and ask, she should say she was taking her son to visit the doctor. "We drove through lots of ISIS checkpoints but no-one stopped us."

Finally they got to a village on the Syrian/Iraqi border and Bahar was met by Abu Shuja and her brother. "I was on the verge of collapse," she says. "I don't remember much else that happened after that."

More than 6,400 Yazidi women and children are thought to have been sold into slavery after ISIS captured Sinjar. Another 5,000 Yazidis were murdered in what a UN commission termed a genocide.

Abu Shuja, who arranged Bahar's rescue, wasn't the only one to be concerned about the women and children kidnapped by ISIS. Businessman Bahzad Fahran, who lived outside of ISIS-controlled areas had set up a group called Kinyat - to rescue Yazidi women and children and record the crimes of ISIS fighters.

Kinyat got word that ISIS fighters were buying and selling kidnapped Yazidi women and children online, particularly on Telegram. "We would infiltrate these online groups under borrowed names or using ISIS fighters' names," says Bahzad.

On the wall of his office in the Kurdish area of Iraq, he points to printed-out screenshots of the Telegram chats that he saw. One of them is in English, advertising a girl for sale: "12 yrs old not virgin very beautiful". She cost $13,000 (£10,000) and was in Raqqa in Syria. Then he shows me a picture of the girl posing in a suggestive way on a leather sofa.

Messages such as this alerted Barzad and his organisation to the whereabouts of captured Yazidis

Bahzad says that these Telegram chats would give details of where the kidnapped Yazidis were located: "We would get in touch with people living around there and ask them to look for this kid."

It was easier to find young boys because they were allowed out of the house more: "We'd also get the [kidnapped person's] family to send information so when we confronted the boy, we could give them evidence that we were genuine," says Bahzad.

"When we were rescuing families, like women with their children, we had to have a series of codes, or signals to let them know we were there to rescue them, and to let us know when they are alone."

The process differed in every case, but each one involved money, and fake documents to get through ISIS group checkpoints.

It was too risky for Yazidis to enter ISIS areas, so the act of rescue had to be carried out by local smugglers, who were more used to shifting cigarettes and forbidden alcohol.

"These guys did it all for cash," says Bahzad. "That was their only motive. Many people were paid thousands of dollars to buy back these girls."

Kinyat says that 6,417 Yazidis were taken captive, but 3,568 either escaped or were rescued. Bahzad himself rescued 55 people but according to the UN-backed International Organization for Migration (IOM), about 2,700 Yazidi women and children are still missing. Many of them could still be with their kidnappers.

Bahzad says that it has become more and more complicated to trace victims. After ISIS was defeated, the fighters and their families fled to other areas. Some are in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and some even went to Europe.

Bahzad says there are Yazidi children who were five or six when they were abducted and who have completely forgotten their language or who they are: "They don't know anything about being Yazidi. And they even forgot their families."

Bahzad Farhan set up a group to rescue Yazidi women and children

The wider future for the Yazidi people also remains uncertain.

"The Yazidis have been under attack for many centuries, and a lot of the Muslim population, younger or older, still believe they should convert or die," says Haider Elias, the head of the largest Yazidi advocacy organisation, Yazda. "And that's why we believe ISIS is not the extent of it, or the end of it, and that's a big fear for the Yazidis."

Of the 300,000 Yazidis who fled their homes in Sinjar from ISIS, almost half are - like Bahar - still living in tented camps in the Kurdish region of Iraq. They can't go back to their homes in Sinjar district because it has been almost completely destroyed, and its strategic position on the Iraqi/Syria border makes it dangerous territory - with militias who came to fight ISIS now fighting each other for supremacy

Elias says the community is frightened that it will be the subject of another massacre at any time, and that many Yazidis are now migrating. "A sense of security is really important for them. It's a big thing. They don't feel secure."

It cost about £16,000 ($20,000) to buy Bahar's freedom. She's 40 years old now, but looks older than her age - beneath her headscarf her hair is now mostly grey.

She has lived in a camp for eight years since her rescue. Sitting on a thin mattress on the floor of her tent, she takes out a plastic folder with pictures of her missing family members.

Bahar looks at pictures of her missing husband and son, now presumed murdered by ISIS

Not knowing what happened to her husband and eldest son, and dealing with the trauma of being repeatedly raped, has made Bahar very ill - both physically and emotionally.

Her other children are still with her, but she says they are still in shock, and anxious all the time. "My daughter has injuries from the beatings she endured," she says. "I have to keep fighting and keep going. But at the moment, the way we are right now, it's like being the living dead."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-66108078

[Anthea]

Dutch aid plan for Yazidis

Netherlands’ parliament on Thursday adopted a motion calling on the Dutch government to prepare an action plan to aid the Yazidi community living in the Kurdistan Region, who are still reeling from the impact of the Islamic State (ISIS) genocide nearly nine years later

Submitted by Labour Party MP Kati Piri, the motion addresses the continued impact of the ISIS atrocities and the harsh living conditions of the Yazidi community, many of whom remain scattered across IDP camps in the Kurdistan Region and are unable to return to their homeland of Shingal due to persistent security risks and lack of infrastructure.

The motion calls on the cabinet to “draw up an action plan for aid to the Yazidi community in northern Iraq, consisting of concrete improvement of living conditions, better housing in the camps, education, trauma therapy for victims of sexual violence.”

It also calls for helping pass testimonials that might lead to the successful conviction of ISIS militants.

Netherlands is one of the countries that has recognized ISIS’ crimes against the Yazidi community as a genocide and a crime against humanity. The new motion for an action plan comes exactly two years after the Dutch parliament unanimously passed a motion to recognize the genocide.

ISIS swept across Iraq and Syria in the summer of 2014. Minority groups especially suffered under the terror group's rule, including Yazidis, Shabaks, and Christians.

The Shingal area remains unstable due to insecurity and lack of basic services. Around 200,000 Yazidis who fled Shingal in 2014 still live in the Kurdistan Region, many of whom linger in IDP camps and live well below the poverty line, unable to return home.

Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement in 2020 to return security to Shingal, but it has yet to be fully implemented.

More than 6,000 Yazidis were kidnapped when ISIS attacked their heartland of Shingal in Nineveh province, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Office for Rescuing Kidnapped Yazidis. Over 2,000 remain missing.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/world/07072023

[Anthea]

Yazidis return home

More than 180 Yazidis who had sheltered in camps in Duhok province for nearly a decade returned to their homes in Shingal, Iraq’s Ministry of Migration and Displacement announced on Friday

“Migration and Displacement Minister Evan Faeq Gabro, announced the return of 189 displaced Yazidis from the displacement camps in Duhok province to their original areas of residence in the town of Sinjar,” read a statement from the ministry, using another name for Shingal.

The statement added that the return of the Yazidis to their homes is part of government efforts to close the file on internal displacement. According to United Nations figures, 1.17 million Iraqis are internally displaced across the country, down from more than 3.2 million in 2015.

When Islamic State (ISIS) militants captured the Shingal area in 2014, they committed heinous atrocities that constitute genocide against the minority Yazidis, including massacres and sexual violence. More than 400,000 Yazidis were forced to flee to displacement camps, mainly in the Kurdistan Region.

Minister Gabro said the government will continue registering families who wish to voluntarily return to their areas and will provide facilities and basic necessities.

Though ISIS was declared territorially defeated in Iraq in 2017, concerns over living conditions, lack of security, political disputes, and slow reconstruction have meant most families cannot return to their homes.

In June, 87 Yazidis returned from Duhok’s Sharia camp to Shingal under a program run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in cooperation with the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC). However, the head of JCC, Srwa Rasul, told Rudaw at the time that she feared the families could be displaced again because of poor conditions in Shingal.

According to IOM, around 80 percent of Shingal’s public infrastructure and 70 percent of civilian homes were destroyed during the war with ISIS between 2014 and 2017. Basic services such as electricity and water are not consistently available, and numerous health and education facilities are yet to be rebuilt.

There is a myriad of armed forces in the Shingal area with various allegiances, including the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga, pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), and groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). A 2020 deal between Baghdad and Erbil to secure and govern Shingal has not been fully implemented.

In a report last month, Human Rights Watch slammed Iraqi authorities for failing to adequately compensate thousands of Yazidi families who bore the brunt of ISIS atrocities.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/070720231

[Anthea]

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Rescued Yezidi sisters

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Two teenage Yezidi girls, who were previously abducted by the so-called Islamic State, have been rescued and reunited with their family, the government rescue office announced on Wednesday

The two sisters, named Basma Khalaf (14) and Aliya Khalaf (12), have been rescued from northeastern Syria’s Al-Hol camp, a notorious facility that houses alleged family members of the former ISIS militants.

They were abducted by the terror group in August 2014 in Sinjar, the majority-Yezidi town in northwest Iraq. There, the extremists had committed gross human rights violations, some of which had amounted to genocide by the United Nations.

The teenagers, whose parents and siblings are still believed to be in ISIS custody, were greeted by their relatives in Duhok Province with flowers and candies on Wednesday

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Kidnapped Yezidi Rescue Office had worked on their release for nearly three months, Hussein Qaedee, the head of the office, told Kurdistan 24.

Over 3,500 Yezidi girls and women have been rescued so far, the official said, vowing the efforts would continue until the last abducted Yezidi is rescued.

In late June, six other Yezidi women were rescued from ISIS captivity with the support of the office.

“By setting up an office dedicated to rescuing kidnapped Yazidi women and girls, he has helped many of them escape ISIS captivity,” Nadia Murad, a Yezidi Noble Peace Laureate and survivor of sexual violence said at the time.

Despite continued efforts, there are still nearly 2,700 missing Yezidi women, who were abducted nine years ago along with more than 6,000 other Yezidis.

Additional reporting by Kurdistan 24 Duhok reporter Maher Sinjari

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... y-in-Duhok

[Anthea]

Remorse over girl's death

A German woman convicted on charges that she and her husband allowed the death by thirst of a 5-year-old Yazidi girl she and her husband kept as a slave when they were members of the Islamic State group in Iraq expressed remorse as a new sentencing hearing opened on Wednesday

A federal court in March ordered judges in Munich to reconsider the sentence of the 32-year-old, who has been identified only as Jennifer W. in line with German privacy rules. She risks a more severe sentence than the 10 years she was given at her original trial.

The defendant was convicted in October 2021 of, among other things, two counts of crimes against humanity through enslavement, in one case resulting in death, being an accessory to attempted murder and membership in a terrorist organization abroad.

Prosecutors have accused her of standing by as her then husband chained the young Yazidi girl in a courtyard and left her to die of thirst. At her original trial, the court found that she did nothing to help the girl, although doing so would have been “possible and reasonable.”

The Federal Court of Justice found that judges erred in sentencing the defendant for a “less severe case” of crimes against humanity and overlooked aggravating circumstances. German law allows for a life sentence in cases where a defendant’s actions result in a person’s death.

As the new proceedings at the Munich state court opened on Wednesday, Jennifer W. said in a statement read out by a defense lawyer that she regrets what happened, German news agency dpa reported.

“I was rightly convicted,” the statement said, adding that she had “qualified or disputed” aspects of it in the original trial but no longer wants to do so. “I was also responsible for the death,” it added.

Eight court sessions have been scheduled for the new hearing, and a sentencing decision could come in late August.

Jennifer W. was taken into custody while trying to renew her identity papers at the German Embassy in Ankara in 2016 and deported to Germany.

Her former husband, an Iraqi citizen who was identified only as Taha Al-J., was convicted by a Frankfurt court in November 2021 of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and bodily harm resulting in death. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/31 ... rt-hearing

[Anthea]

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Sinjar reconstruction fund
By Wladimir van Wilgenburg

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – In a joint statement on Thursday, a group of Yezidi civil society organizations, community leaders, and intellectuals call for the special allocation of a $1.5 billion dedicated fund, directly administered by the office of the Prime Minister of Iraq, for the reconstruction of Sinjar

Iraq’s Parliament recently approved a three-year working budget of $459 billion, with an annual budget of $153 billion.

The Parliament only allocated $38 million for Sinjar and Nineveh Plain reconstruction in this budget, the Yezidi activists said.

The activists claimed that a motion was accepted by the Prime Minister’s Office in the past, with a budget of nearly 500 billion Iraqi Dinars allocated in principle.

"But the budget was filibustered by some political parties and cut down to 10% of its original allocation," the statement said, adding that the budget was then allocated not only for Sinjar but also for Zummar and Nineveh plains.

"Sinjar and other areas inhabited mostly by minorities have received disproportionately low funding over the past nine years, and our communities are outraged by the inequality of this budget allocation," the activists said.

"Iraq is not a poor country. The budget for 2023 is $153 billion. Yet hundreds of thousands of Yezidis are displaced, and homes remain destroyed," Pari Ibrahim, the founder and Executive Director of the Free Yezidi Foundation (FYF), told Kurdistan 24.

"There is money in this country to help our people and others move forward in their lives. We are asking for only 1% of the budget for one year. After the Yezidi Genocide, this is something that can be done and should be done."

In a report published in June, the New York-based human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed that in April 2023, Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia al-Sudani ordered the government to initiate a reconstruction campaign for Sinjar and announced the allocation of 50 billion Iraqi Dinars (IQD) ($34.2 million) for this purpose.

However, HRW pointed out that political disputes are currently obstructing the utilization of the allocated funds. Additionally, the damaged infrastructure and lack of essential services have further complicated the situation, preventing the return of over 200,000 people who have been displaced from the district since the Yezidi genocide in August 2014.

Among those displaced, 85 percent belong to Iraq’s minority Yezidi population.

https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/story/32 ... ction-fund

[Anthea]

Written on 05/08/2014

POSTED HERE}:
Anthea » Wed Aug 06, 2014 11:08 pm

Letter to all the World and its Leaders

We beg and plead all the World's leaders, the media and the entire population of this planet, to pay attention to the terrible situation of = Yezidis in the Southern Kurdistan and to help then to be rescued from a genocide.

The existence of thousands Yezidi Kurds hang in the balance. They fled their homes in Shingal Mountain to escape the onslaught of the murderous and unforgiving fighters of the Islamic State. Some 50,000 Yezidis – half of them are children – are now trapped on the mountain. Weaponless men unable to defend their families, innocent women, children, babies in arms, the sick, the old, the vulnerable, a whole population now face a choice between slaughtering from the merciless Islamic State or dying slowly by starvation and thirst.

Yezidis are a gentle and peaceful community which suffered during past centuries from many massacres and a genocide in 1915, when they shared in Ottoman Turkey the fate of Armenians and Syriac Christians. At this time, Yezidis from Sinjar offered a shelter to many Armenians fleeing Northern regions.

Now it is time to save them now from a total annihilation. We pray to all people receiving this statement to be kind enough to print it, post it, email it, sent it to media outlets, your local MP and the President/Prime Minister of your country.

Please do not allow that horrific genocide of Halabja, when 6000 Kurds were gassed by Saddam Hussein, to be repeated today in Shingal.

Respectfully

Dr. Jawad Mella and Friends

President Kurdistan National Congress 05/08/2014
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Jawad ... e=bookmark

Your support for these innocent people is much appreciated and you are invited to sign your names before passing the letter on

NOBODY RUSHED TO HELP

[Anthea]

Journey of a Yazidi ISIS bride

Mariam was just eight years old, a child who liked spending the hot summer days playing with her friends or her brothers in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in 2014 when fighters from the self-proclaimed Islamic State (ISIS) stormed their town. She was one of thousands of Yazidi girls and women abducted by the militants. Under ISIS rule, she was forced to marry a member of the terrorist group and raise two of his orphaned children in his Palestinian hometown

Wearing a black abaya covering her entire body, Mariam, a pseudonym, told Rudaw's Nasir Ali her story over Zoom on Sunday. She recounted her nine-year journey from Shingal to Palestine, during which she suffered violence, injustice and rape.

When ISIS took control of Shingal, the terror group abducted 6,417 Yazidis, including 3,548 women and girls. So far, 3,570 of them have been rescued, according to the latest data obtained by Ru daw English from the office to rescue the missing Yazidis, affiliated with the Kurdistan Region Presidency.

Start of an ordeal

Mariam and her two brothers were visiting their uncle the day ISIS attacked.

“There were nine of us. Two of my brothers and I were at my uncle’s house. We were all captured together. Other members of my family were able to escape. ISIS captured my brothers and me. Then we were taken to a distant place where we stayed for around one year. My brothers were separated from me. My separation from my brothers really hurt me and I wanted to be with them,” she recounted. She now believes she spent nearly a year in Tal Afar, between Shingal and Mosul.

Her brothers were aged seven and ten at the time.

“They took my brothers, but I do not know what they did to them,” she said. Mariam later found out that her brothers had managed to escape.

“All the girls were taken to a place. I was able to speak with my parents [on the phone] and they told me that my brothers had reunited with them. I tried to escape too, but I could not because I was too young.”

From Tal Afar, she was taken to Raqqa in Syria where she saw other Yazidi girls and women being sold to ISIS militants and spent time in prison, waiting until she reached puberty and could be married off.

“I remained in prison for two years,” she recalled.

Forced marriage

A family decided to take her in until she reached puberty. Soon they told her that she should get married but she refused, telling them that she would get married only when she becomes an adult. The family, however, insisted.

A man came to ask for her hand. His appearance was terrifying, she said. “He was fat, long-haired and long-bearded. I was really terrified after seeing him and I had nightmares about him.”

After she refused to marry, the family took her to a place where women and girls were sold.

“A good person came. He said that he would adopt me as his daughter and take care of me until I grew up and got married. I stayed with him for two years. Then, their [ISIS] emirs said that I should get married.”

One young Syrian man wanted to marry her, but his mother refused because she did not want her son to marry a kidnapped woman.

Then a 24-year-old Palestinian man asked for her hand. They were wed although it was technically illegal to marry off a ten-year-old child.

“They told the court that I was 16 years old because they [judges] would not approve the marriage had I said I was ten. They prepared a marriage bond and bought me gold in the market,” said Mariam. The groom’s family threatened her not to reveal her true age.

“I did not want the marriage and I was too young but they would not understand because my Arabic was poor. I didn't even know what marriage was,” she recounted.

First night of marriage

Mariam and the Palestinian man lived in a house in Raqqa.

“I was taken to a house where he and I were staring at one another. It was a strange feeling. I did not know what was going on. I did not know what marriage was. Evening came and the man knew what he was doing, but I did not. He asked me to go to bed but this experience was very strange to me. I did not feel good at all,” she said.

“I then realized that he was going to rape me. I knew that I was young but he was an adult, so I would not endure it with him… He said that he was not going to forcibly sleep with me and that he would do it only when I was ready.”

Mariam did not trust him. She told him that she wanted to sleep but he said she had to wait a bit. She went to the bathroom, pretending to take a shower for two hours until he nodded off. “I went to another room and slept. The next day, I cried and told him that I was not ready for marriage. He said that it was an order from the emirs. He did not force me that day.”

Mariam asked him to take her to a place where some other Kurdish women lived. Even though she did not know any of the women there, she wanted something familiar. Her husband allowed her to visit for one day and promised to take her back the following month, but he never did.

“He told me that I had to sleep with him. On the third day, he went to a pharmacy and brought a drug that numbs part of the body. He gave me the drug and I cried,” Mariam recounted, saying the rape emotionally hurt her.

He tried to have sex with her every day but she resisted because she could not endure it.

Preteen mother

One year later, she gave birth to a son. Her entry into motherhood changed her life.

Two months later, her husband took another wife, an Arab woman, and he began to get violent with Mariam, beating her. Two months after the birth of her son, she got pregnant again, this time with a girl.

The man moved the family to Baghouz, the last redoubt of ISIS in Syria.

ISIS-affiliated people flee Baghouz after its liberation by SDF in March 2019. Photo: AFP

In late 2018, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) intensified its attacks against ISIS, especially in Baghouz. Mariam and her ISIS-affiliated family struggled economically in the town which was under a siege imposed by the US-backed Kurdish forces.

The family later moved to the nearby al-Suda on the Iraqi border.

Mariam stayed with her Palestinian husband until the SDF declared the territorial defeat of ISIS in Syria. The SDF moved Mariam and her son to al-Hol camp in Hasaka, northeast Syria (Rojava). Around 50,000 ISIS-affiliated women and children are still held in the notorious camp.

Mariam stayed in contact with her husband while in al-Hol.

She found a way to leave the camp two months later and moved to the rebel-held Idlib province in northwest Syria.

She went into labour in the car on the road to Idlib. Four men and a woman were also in the car. They tried to stop at a mosque run by Shiite Kurds who refused to allow Mariam to give birth there. So her daughter was born in the car, with help from the other woman traveling with her.

In Idlib, she lost contact with her husband and later saw a video reporting him dead.

Mariam still had contact with her husband’s family in Palestine. They smuggled her to Turkey where they issued fake passports for her and her children.

Palestine

After eight months in Turkey, Mariam and her children traveled through Egypt and finally arrived in Palestine’s Nablus.

The Yazidi girl said the family of her husband were good to her. They rented her a house in the same city and financially supported her at the beginning. After her husband’s family stopped supporting her, Mariam depended on the generosity of a philanthropist.

Mariam said she converted to Islam when she was in Syria and remembers only a little about Yazidism.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/people-places/03082023

[Anthea]

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Marking Yazidi genocide anniversary

During an event commemorating the ninth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide at the hands of the Islamic State (ISIS), Kurdistan Region’s President Nechirvan Barzani, UNAMI chief, and several diplomatic envoys to Erbil stressed the need to normalize the security situation in the Yazidi heartland of Shingal (Sinjar) in hopes of securing a dignified return for members of the religious minority

ISIS overran the Yazidi heartland of Shingal in August 2014 and committed atrocities including genocide against the group, more than 6,000 Yazidis were abducted and around 2,700 remain missing with little done to bring solace to the rescued.

"No one would have believed in the 21st century that such a heinous crime against humanity would be committed," said President Barzani in a keynote speech at the event, calling the ISIS atrocities against the Yazidi community an “unparalleled crime of the time.”

President Barzani established the Yazidi rescue office in 2014 to find and return the missing Yazidi women and children, which he promised will continue working tirelessly until every last missing Yazidi is found.

"As long as there is one missing Yazidi left, this genocide is not over," he added.

Representatives of the diplomatic missions in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region also highlighted the magnitude of the plight of the Yazidis, reiterating their commitment to supporting the Yazidi community and renewing calls for the implementation of the Shingal agreement.

"The weight of the recent past is heavier and more painful than any of us can understand," Dutch consul to Erbil Jaco Beerends noted.

Sven Mossler, Acting German consul in Erbil, described the large community of Yazidis living in Germany as an "integral part" of the country, adding that the anniversary “serves as a reminder to ask ourselves what we could have done to prevent this."

Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement in 2020 to “normalize” the situation in Shingal, which includes the withdrawal of armed groups, including all Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)-affiliated forces in the city. The agreement has been rejected by the PKK and its proxies.

President Barzani said that Shingal continues to struggle with a lack of security, stability, and job opportunities which are hindering the safe return of many of the town’s native residents. He called on the Iraqi federal government to reconstruct the Yazidi heartland, while also urging relevant authorities in Erbil and Baghdad to work on implementing the Shingal agreement.

"Now is an important time to call on the parliament, government, and political parties of the Kurdistan Region and Iraq to hold a special meeting and follow up on previous agreements and find a quick practical solution for normalizing the situation in Shingal," he added.

Barzani also urged all unofficial armed groups, including the PKK and all it affiliated groups, to evacuate Shingal as they “have achieved nothing but creating more trouble, insecurity, and instability to Shingal and Yazidis and deepening their wounds.”

The security situation in Shingal remains dire, making it difficult and dangerous for many displaced Yazidis to return. Clashes take place between Iraqi army and the Shingal Resistance Units (YBS), an all-Yazidi militia affiliated to the PKK. The YBS has also been affiliated to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which also maintains a significant presence in Shingal.

"Sugarcoating the situation will not help anyone, especially survivors," said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), noting that while progress is being made, it is not being done fast enough.

The UNAMI chief called for the accelerated implementation of the Yazidi Survivors Law and the appointment of a mayor in Shingal, saying that the Yazidi people deserve a future that they can believe in, starting today."

UK consul to Erbil Rosy Cave said that her country remains committed to the Yazidis and the implementation of the Shingal agreement.

"The UK is committed to supporting the Yazidi community and other communities that have suffered on the hands of Daesh [ISIS]," UK consul to Erbil Rosy Cave said at an event marking the ninth anniversary of the Yazidi genocide on Thursday pic.twitter.com/4MCr7y5osH
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) August 3, 2023

"They deserve to go home to a safe and secure city," Cave said of the need to return Yazidis to their homeland of Shingal, while recognizing that the dire security situation there remains an obstacle.

The Dutch consul echoed similar remarks while also calling for the compensation of survivors through the Yazidi Survivors Law.

The Yazidi Survivors Law formally recognizes acts of genocide and crimes against humanity perpetrated by ISIS against the Yazidi, Christian, Turkmen, and Shabak communities by ISIS. It envisages a fixed salary, the provision of land, and allocates two percent of public sector jobs.

Around 10,500 Shingalis have applied for compensation through the Shingal Compensation Office since 2021 and although 5,000 of these claims have been approved, no family has received the funds to which they are entitled, Human Rights Watch reported.

YBS has controlled parts of Shingal since ISIS was defeated in the town but the presence of the force and several other forces in the district has been blamed for insecurity which has prevented thousands of its residents who fled due to the war on ISIS from returning. The YBS also attract Turkish airstrikes as it is regarded by Ankara as a front for the PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey.

The US has also repeatedly called on authorities in Baghdad and Erbil to ensure the full implementation of the agreement.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/03082023

For 9 years these gentle people have lived in fear, their community and culture are being destroyed, the entire world is supporting the continuing genocide

It is a genocide when the world forces separation on Yazidis as they are forced to leave their homeland and seek support in other countries

In 9 years the coalition forces have done NOTHING to rebuild Shingal which they destroyed in their belated attempt to destroy ISIS

Why has the UN and the international community allowed assorted armed groups to take control of Yazidi land preventing Yazidis from returning home

[Anthea]

Global Support Mounts

Shafaq News/ The Kurdistan Democratic Party bloc within the Iraqi parliament called Iraq to recognize the Yazidis genocide

In a statement, MP Vian Dakhil, the official spokesperson for the bloc, expressed solemn remembrance on the ninth anniversary of the attack on the Yazidi community by ISIS in the Sinjar region.

Dakhil emphasized that thousands of victims, captives, and missing individuals continue to be remembered, “alongside the pain endured by tens of thousands of Yazidi families who remain displaced in camps. Over 100,000 Yazidis have migrated from Iraq since 2014, leaving their homes behind.”

She noted that while the majority of displaced Iraqis from various provinces and groups have returned to their areas, this has not been the case for more than a quarter of a million Yazidis.

“These displaced Yazidis have been living in camps within the Kurdistan Region for the past nine years. Additionally, around 2,700 children and women remain kidnapped, despite the efforts of the Kurdistan Regional Government, which successfully facilitated the return of 3,400 women.”

Dakhil pointed out that regional and international complexities have hindered the return of people to Sinjar due to the presence of over 60,000 fighters from six different parties, including both official forces and external militia.

She called for the implementation of the Sinjar Agreement. This agreement, approved by the United Nations and signed between Baghdad and Erbil, holds the potential to be the last hope for the Sinjar community.

Dakhil stressed that Baghdad must take action to fulfill its obligations as the capital of a sovereign state.

“Any obstruction to the agreement's implementation, would lead to historical and humanitarian consequences for the ongoing suffering of the Yazidis.”

The KDP leader highlighted that the recognition of the Yazidi genocide by 14 governments and international parliaments should compel the Iraqi parliament to follow suit by enacting legislation that acknowledges the genocide.

“Such action would ensure justice for the victims and pave the way for compensation.”

Additionally, efforts to combat terrorism and bring terrorists to justice, even those who have fled with false identities, were called for as part of pursuing justice for the Yazidi community.

https://shafaq.com/en/Iraq-News/KDP-Urg ... ort-Mounts

[Anthea]

100 Yazidi IDPs returned to Shingal

Iraq’s migration and displacement minister on Tuesday said that a new batch of Yazidis, consisting of 100 people, returned to their hometown of Shingal years after fleeing the Islamic State (ISIS) war to Duhok province

Iraqi Migration and Displacement Minister Evan Faeq Gabro was quoted by her ministry as saying that 100 Yazidis from Duhok camps returned to Shingal “as part of the ministry’s plan to end the dossier of displacement in the country,” adding that the process is conducted in coordination with the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Pir Dayan Pir Jaafar, the head of Duhok’s migration office, which is linked to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), told Rudaw's Hemin Baban on Tuesday that a total of around 4,000 Yazidis have returned to Shingal in the last eight months.

“From the beginning of this year, a total of 800 Yazidi families - consisting of nearly 4,000 people - have returned to their areas in Shingal and its vicinity. Every day, some IDPs return. Yesterday, 18 families from Barsiv 1 camp in Duhok province returned [to Shingal],” said the Kurdish official.

He added about 26,000 Yazidi families currently live in Duhok camps and 37,000 others live outside the camps

The Yazidis in Shingal were subjected to countless heinous atrocities, including forced marriages, sexual violence, and massacres when ISIS captured the city in 2014, bringing destruction to many villages and towns populated by the minority group. The Yazidis were forced to flee to displacement camps across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Political disputes over the city between the federal government and the KRG as well as the presence of several armed groups have disrupted the reconstruction of the city. A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report in June slammed Iraqi authorities for failing to adequately compensate thousands of Yazidi families who bore the brunt of ISIS’ atrocities.

“To be honest, we don’t have much hope, because when they [the families] go back [to Shingal], they are often re-displaced, due to the unfavorable conditions in Shingal,” Srwa Rasul, head of the KRG’s Joint Crisis Coordination Center (JCC), said in mid-June.

According to IOM, around 80 percent of Shingal’s public infrastructure and 70 percent of civilian homes were destroyed during the years of the ISIS war from 2014 to 2017. Fundamental services such as electricity and water are not consistently available, and numerous health and education facilities are yet to be reconstructed after being destroyed during the war.

There is a myriad of armed forces in Shingal with various allegiances, including the Kurdistan Region Peshmerga, pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic), and groups affiliated with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). They gained footholds in Shingal after ousting ISIS.

Baghdad and Erbil signed an agreement in 2020 to normalize the situation in Shingal but the deal has yet to be implemented. The United States has repeatedly called on the Iraqi and Kurdish government to “immediately break the political deadlock” in the city.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/080820231

[Anthea]

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Recruitment of Children in Sinjar

The head of the border branch of Lalsh base in Sinjar has expressed concern over the alarming practice of illegal armed groups recruiting hundreds of children under the age of 18 in the region

Sulaiman Fano, in his statement to BasNews, pointed out that these groups continue to exploit opportunities to recruit and arm children, further worsening the situation for the people of Sinjar.

"The situation in Sinjar is deteriorating day by day, with no signs of improvement. Children in the region are being targeted and trained by these illegal groups," Fano added.

"Regrettably, despite nine years having passed since the Sinjar genocide, many children taken and indoctrinated by ISIS remain trapped, unable to return to their families."

Sinjar has witnessed multiple occupations, and the return of Islamic State (ISIS) families from Syria with assistance from the Iraqi federal government has compounded the challenges faced by the victims of the genocide, leaving them unable to reclaim their homes and normal lives.

During the middle of 2014, the Islamic State launched an assault on the Sinjar area. The extremist organization took control of the region predominantly inhabited by Yezidis and caused the deaths or kidnappings of thousands of civilians, including women and children.

Earlier today, Hussein Qaidi, the head of the Kurdistan Region's Special Office for Yezidi Abductees Affairs, told BasNews that they have rescued 3,570 Yezidi women and girls, with statistics indicating that 2,600 individuals remain missing, concluding his remarks by reaffirming: "We are determined to make every possible effort to rescue them."

https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/817681

[Anthea]

Yazidi village reconstruction

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on Tuesday ordered relevant authorities to initiate the reconstruction of the village of Kocho in Shingal (Sinjar), the site of some of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) most gruesome atrocities against the Yazidi community

Located 18 kilometers southwest of Shingal, Kocho was home to approximately 1,700 people before ISIS militants took over the district in August 2014. On August 15, less than two weeks after ISIS’ invasion of Shingal, Kocho villagers were gathered by ISIS militants at a local school before being separated, with almost all of the men shot, boys forced to become child soldiers, and women and girls sold into sexual slavery.

A statement from Sudani’s office on the ninth anniversary of the massacre said that the premier has directed the reconstruction of Kocho to begin, in an effort to honor the village’s citizens.

“This effort aims to honor the village's esteemed residents and expresses a sense of responsibility toward our diverse population and their right to live safely and with dignity,” read the statement.

ISIS militants swept across Iraq in August 2014, committing genocide against the Yazidis, an ethno-religious minority who primarily lived in the Shingal district. In the first days of the ISIS attack, militants killed 1,293 people, according to figures from the Kurdistan Region’s office for rescuing kidnapped Yazidis.

Among Kocho’s victims was Nadia Murad, now a Nobel Peace Laureate and prominent advocate for the Yazidi community.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/150820231

The horror of Kocho on 15 August can never be forgotten nor can the FACT that ISIS had already been slaughtering Yazidis for more than a week before they reached Kocho and NOBODY did anything to protect the village

ALL the Yazidi villages need rebuilding, they have waited 9 years

[Anthea]

Click Image to Enlarge:


Miss Middle East

Gulistan Kro, a young Kurdish Yezidi woman, is making waves as a contender for the prestigious Miss Middle East and North Africa crown. This follows her impressive third-place finish in the 2021-2022 Miss Iraq competition

Speaking to BasNews, Kro revealed her dual passion: "Though I hold a degree in Nursing, my fervor for the performing arts remains unwavering. I believe in my innate beauty, motivating me to pursue this journey."

Kro's earlier triumph in the Miss Iraqi pageant catapulted her to the first position in the Kurdistan Region, representing Duhok province.

Confidently, she shared, "I currently hold the title of Iraqi representative in the upcoming Miss Middle East and North Africa competition, where I'll stand alongside 40 other talented Iraqi girls."

"Representing Iraq on this grand stage fills me with joy. I aspire to showcase Kurdish girls' potential in such contests and shed light on our community's struggles to the Arab world,” the Kurdish woman added.

With unwavering backing from her family and community, Kro is primed for success, noting that “their unyielding support fuels my determination to clinch the title of Miss Middle East and North Africa, set to take place on October 25, 2023."

Gulistan Kro's journey from nursing graduate to prominent regional beauty contestant serves as an inspiration, highlighting unity and representation across diverse communities.

Link to Article - Photos:

https://www.basnews.com/en/babat/820229

[Anthea]

Shingal deal must be implemented

A failure to implement the Shingal agreement does not inspire the return of Yazidis and internally displaced people to their homes, a United Nations official told Rudaw on Monday, pointing to gaps in the administration and security

“The lack of implementation of the Sinjar [Shingal] agreement obviously does not create a conducive environment for the safe return of the IDPs,” Ghulam Mohammed Isaczai, the UN’s Deputy Special Representative for Iraq told Rudaw’s Dilbixwin Dara.

In 2020, Baghdad reached a deal with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) over the governance and security of Shingal in order to resolve a number of issues that have prevented the return of the area’s inhabitants who had fled the Islamic State (ISIS).

Under the agreement, security for the troubled region is Baghdad's responsibility. The federal government agreed to establish a new armed force recruited from the local population and expel the various armed groups that are operating in the Yazidi heartland.

Three years after the agreement was signed, Isaczai said that there are still concerns regarding the security and lack of services provided by the government, in addition to the lack of an administrative structure in the city, which urgently needs the appointment of a mayor.

“The absence of these elements does not inspire confidence on the part of the IDPs and Yazidis,” Isaczai said.

According to the official, nine UN agencies have provided support on multiple levels that benefitted over 450,000 people in Shingal. It has also worked on rehabilitating and establishing shelters for returnees and the infrastructure of the city.

“There are some returns happening, but for us to encourage the collective and a large group return, I think it requires the full implementation of the Sinjar agreement,” Isaczai said.

The Yazidis in Shingal were subjected to countless heinous atrocities, including forced marriages, sexual violence, and massacres when ISIS captured the city in 2014, bringing destruction to many villages and towns populated by the minority group and committing genocide.

The Yazidis were forced to flee to displacement camps, mainly in the Kurdistan Region. Political disputes over the region between the federal government and the KRG as well as the presence of several armed groups have disrupted reconstruction of the city that suffered heavy destruction during the war to oust ISIS.

A Human Rights Watch report in June slammed Iraqi authorities for failing to adequately compensate thousands of Yazidi families who bore the brunt of ISIS atrocities.

Reduced funds does not mean UN departure from IraqEarlier this year, the UN scaled down its humanitarian assistance in Iraq. Isaczai said this was in response to a reduced need.

“Five years ago, following the defeat of Daesh [ISIS], over 11 million Iraqis were receiving humanitarian assistance. That number now has reduced to less than two million people,” he said.

The UN official said that Iraq received over eight billion dollars in humanitarian assistance, most of which was channeled to humanitarian agencies and the UN. However, less aid is now needed as many displaced families have returned to their homes and Iraq has improved its capacity to assume a lot of responsibility to provide support for the remaining people in need.

Isaczai said that although the amount of funds for Iraq has been reduced, the UN and humanitarian agencies are not leaving the country. “We are just shifting our focus from humanitarian assistance to more long term, durable and sustainable solutions,” he explained.

At the peak of the war against ISIS, more than three million Iraqis were displaced from their homes, according to UN figures. Many of them were hosted in camps in the Kurdistan Region.

Ongoing insecurity, lack of reconstruction, and a shortage of basic services means many families are reluctant to return home.

According to Isaczai, UN records show that there are currently 1.2 million Iraqis displaced across the Kurdistan Region and Iraq, and around 180,000 of them are in 25 camps in the Kurdistan Region.

https://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/iraq/19082023